Good People,  
 
Covid Time continues to disrupt church year rhythms. 
This church year is gliding toward summer, winding down more slowly. It the BC times (as in Before Covid), I would already be done and gone away to Ministry Days and General Assembly, and then off for a few weeks of vacation and/or study leave, returning sometime in August.
 
Instead, this week, I’ve been at virtual meetings with colleagues Monday to Wednesday. And on Thursday, I am having routine cataract surgery. So, I’ll mostly be resting much of the weekend and popping into some virtual GA programming.
 
On Sunday, June 27, we’ll be worshiping with thousands of other UUs at the virtual GA service. 
I’ll be back in the pulpit on July 4 with a service I’ve been contemplating for years – Free, Brave, Glowing Hearts: the Power of National Anthems. I’m very excited about it. I hope you can join in. 
 
Then I will bug out from July 5 to August 5. 
 
Beginning on Sunday July 11, we get to go on a virtual Summer Road Trip, another series of collaborative with our cluster congregations. This will give each congregation’s minister, the tech team, worship leaders, (and for us, our MAGICians, too) a well-earned break. Our Sunday Road Trip service is Aug. 8, when we will share our own Tanner Linden with the entire cluster. His service is called More Than Our Mistakes on what he learned from his work with the prison ministry at the Church of the Larger Fellowship.
 
On those same Sundays the DREs from our Cluster Congregations will be leading Children’s Chapels at 9 am, July 11 through August 8. The theme will be Play, which seems just right for this summer. 
 
Also in July and August, Kitty Merrill, Brian Fortune, Joe Osborne, and maybe YOU will be installing and practicing on new tech equipment so that we can have hybrid services – also known as multiplatform worship – both in person and on line. 
If this is an area that has ever been an interest, or have a hankering to grow in new directions. This is a great and needful place to help out.
 
Then, we’ll enter further into the PC world (as in Post Covid) as we begin multiplatform worship with Water Communion on Sept. 12.
 
The rhythm of church always slows down in June, July, and into August. I think it will be even more so this summer as people take long-delayed vacations, many of which will be to visit family and friends not seen for nearly two years, 
 
The UUCV staff will be taking time off over the summer at various times as well. 
 
A few of things to be on the lookout for, even in the midst of a slow summer:
❊  Jimmy Vasquez and Fidelity Ballmer are starting a conversation on the proposed 8^th Principle, kicking off on July 29 at 6 pm. (See UUCV This Week for details.)
❊  Marcy Burns’ Memorial Service on August 7 at 11 am outside on church grounds. 
❊  Fidelity an RE Folks are planning in-person gatherings with our children, youth, and families. 
❊  Jimmy and I are working on an outdoor ritual in late-August/early September, hopefully with our Pagan Folk, as a blessing of the building.
❊  At least one more All Church reorganizing, pruning, sprucing up session on a Saturday.
❊  Perhaps even an open-air concert or two in our parking lot. 
❊  Be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, September 25th, Dr. Melissa James – our UUA Pacific Western congregational liaison – will join us to host a DRE Start-Up workshop. It will be a wonderful opportunity to consider where our RE program has been & where it is going. Melissa will also be our guest preacher on September 26th.
 
So, until we meet again, virtually and in-person, please take sweet care of yourselves. 
Continue to travel carefully.
Remember to collect some water from a place that has meaning to you.
 
And be well.
With love,
Rev. Dana

Good People,  
 
An Oversight…  It happened just as I predicted…
I forgot to thank one of our teams at the Annual Meeting, who are among those who did marvelous work to keep the church active and thriving throughout Covid Time. I asked that people let me know if I had forgotten anyone, and the folks of our newly-named Programs and Activities Team (PACT) graciously let me know that they felt left out…
 
I am so grateful for their letting me know both directly and ever-so-kindly. I apologize to them and to you all for missing an opportunity to thank them and highlight their work over these past months.
 
So to make up to them, I thought I would use this space to let everyone know what they have been up to.
 
PACT (formerly the former Adult Programs Team) has worked assiduously to be sure that the activities and groups that sustain our community through the weekdays had the support they needed. They turned on the same dime we all did and immediately reached out to our small groups about meeting online. With their help, most of our groups found their way onto Zoom and kept on meeting. This included Covenant Groups, men’s and women’s groups, the Humanists, Movie Night, and more. The Weekly Watercolor group morphed into an Artists Chat. Book groups kept humming along as did Open Mic Night. A few groups just didn’t want to transfer over to Zoom, and PACT has stayed in touch with them, too. They help shepherd a couple of new groups into being: a group for caregivers of people Navigating Memory Decline and LGBTQ support group. Oh, and the Hiker’s Group kept on hiking.
 
Because our programs and activities are important ways for newer people to get connected, PACT worked with Membership Coordinator Jimmy Vasquez to get information about ALL our programs onto our website. You’ll find them on this page  on our website. On a parallel track, our Administrator Jen Luce revamped our calendar with information linked to all these groups.
 
It’s been impressive work by the members of PACT, with their nifty new acronym, who are: Kathleen Wheeler, Xenia Young, Todd Collart, Jo Ann Stark, and Keith Koch. When next you see them, please thank them.
 
An Opportunity
We will be using our church building more and more over the summer, anticipating being together in person for worship on Sunday, Sept. 12 for Water Communion. In anticipation of greater use, the whole building has been deep cleaned. Yet over the course of these last few months there are several spots in the church that have become very cluttered – especially the garage and a couple of our storage closets.
 
All are hereby invited to the Great Straightening Up and Reorganization of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura. This will be held in tandem with the Buildings & Ground month work day this Saturday, June 19 from 9 am to Noon.
 
Some of our spaces have become so cluttered as to be downright hazardous. It will be so lovely to reinhabit our space, let’s do what we can to offer our building – inside and out – the TLC it needs to be ready for our members and friends of all ages.
 
With gratitude and anticipation,
Rev. Dana

Good People,
 
As this church-year-like-no-other winds toward summer, there are a few things not to be missed.
 
The first is our Flower Communion and Bridging Service this Sunday, June 13.
This will be a two-part Flower Communion on both Saturday and Sunday. 
 
❊ On Saturday the 12th, we will recreate our traditional ceremony between 11am and 2pm at church. We’ll be set up outside around back with vases for you to bring a flower. This can be a flower from your garden, a wildflower found on a hike, or your favorite flower from the grocery store. You will leave your flower in a vase and then take another brought be someone else – gifts of beauty and life circling through our community.  
We’re inviting people to come in staggered time slots, alphabetically starting with the end of the alphabet. (Those whose last names come after U or V or W do enjoy turning the tables on the all the A, B, C, and D folks!)
            W-Z: 11 – 11:30 am
            SV: 11:30 – Noon
            N-R: Noon – 12:30 pm
            J-M: 12:30 – 1 pm 
            E-I: 1 – 1:30 pm 
            A-H: 1:30 – 2 pm 
Please come during these times if you can, and if that doesn’t work in your day, please do come when you can.
 
❊ There will also be a simple and pretty flower craft project for kids of all ages, and folks can hang out while crafting,  
 
❊ On Sunday, the 13th, all are invited to have their flowers – living or crafted – with them during the service on.
 
❊ In the service, we will also be recognizing the ‘Bridging’ transition for Abigail Austin who is finishing her senior year of high school and entering adulthood. There is still time to record a surprise VidHug for Abby. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Record a short message of well wishes, love, and congratulations for Abby on this important day on your phone or computer using the camera feature. Portrait or landscape mode will both work great.
2. Follow the link to Abby’s VidHug. Click on “Upload Video” and find the correct video on your device.
3. Wait for the video to finish uploading. Make sure there is a green “Yes!” next to “Has my video been received?”
4. If you’re having any trouble, you can also email your video to Fidelity (Fidelity@UUVentura.org) or text it to her (805-620-2770).

Don’t forget, this VidHug is a surprise!
 
❊ After the service comes our Annual Meeting in the same Zoom room at 11:30am. This is a chance to exercise the democratic process in our congregation, voting on the budget and 4 new board trustees. Please consider voting by absentee HERE.  
 
That will make for a full weekend, one which unofficially marks the beginning of our church summer season. I’m guessing that folks will be taking long-delayed trips this summer. On those trips, whether near or far, don’t forget to collect some water for our Water Communion in September.
 
Our plan is still to throw our doors wide once again on Sunday, September 12th, which is the tradition date for our Water Communion.  
 
I have always loved the Unitarian Universalist tradition of re-imagining communion with our own rituals and symbolism. Flower Communion was created by Rev. Norbert Capek in the 1920s.  Our tradition of a Water Communion arose out of a gathering UU Women in 1980. Both even have their own Wikipedia page: Flower Communion and Water Communion. They bookend our liturgical year, reminding us that we are connected in magic, mystery, and wonder to each other and the earth. 
 
Hope to see you for both rituals.
Rev. Dana

Dear Members and Friends,

   A “Hybrid Service” is not one where we have both a Rabbi and a UU minister on the same Sunday. Nor is it one that uses both gasoline and electricity to propel it, just people, electricity, and the internet. It is one where the worship service takes place in our sanctuary, with people in the building, and is also broadcast via the internet to the larger community for those who are unable to attend in person. YES, this is one good thing that came out of being locked out of our church for more than a year.

To make this possible the UUCV applied for and received a “Matching Fund” grant opportunity from the Spirit Level Foundation (SLF). Our grant application lists $16,000 in equipment that will be needed for our hybrid ministry to be a reality. SLF will give us $8,000 for the necessary equipment of cameras, screens and more if we have donors who will match their grant with $8,000 of our own donations. Those contributions can be in increments of $5 to $500. This means that many of us will be able to participate and support this project.

Recently, the Board approved the Re-Opening Team’s recommendation to make Berg Hall available for small group meetings. Our current Re-Opening plan is to continue to gradually make more of the church available, the sanctuary, conference room, green room and garage to groups for activities as we move forward. We will keep our services on Zoom and streaming on YouTube through the summer.

We are lucky to have talented people who can create and produce our online worship services, but our electronic equipment was never intended to produce such programs. Kitty Merrill, with help from others, created an incredibly detailed plan of what we need to do this. The hope is that we can get the equipment purchased and installed by early August. That timeline will allow Rev. Dana, the Worship Associates, Tech Team, Carolyn, and Fidelity to stream worship from the sanctuary a few times before we fully re-open with a live audience. If all goes well and Covid transmission remains low, we will come together in person and online on September 12 for our Water Communion service.

So, there is some urgency to make this opportunity from the Spirit Level Foundation a reality. Would you like to be one of the partners providing donations for this special opportunity? We already have $3,000 pledged for these upgrades. If you would like to join in on this, please call or email me, David Smith, at 805-216-9331 or davidpaseo001@gmail.com.

David Smith, for the Finance Committee.
Bryan Buck, for the Generosity and Re-opening Teams.
Twitter
Facebook
Website

Dear UUCV Members and Friends,

    As your Board President who is of Japanese ancestry, I have felt increasingly compelled to speak out against the increasing, horrific racism and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).  A recent media account reported nearly 3800 incidents across the country since the beginning of the pandemic.  And this is considered to be a fraction of the true total.
 
Of course, violence and discrimination towards AAPI people are not new phenomena.  From the infamous massacre of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles in 1871 to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to laws prohibiting land ownership by Asians in the 1920’s to the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, legal sanctions as well as overt racist violence towards AAPI communities have a long history.  My parents and three older siblings were part of the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II.  They were sent to the infamous Tule Lake relocation center and later to Amache, Colorado. 
 
Prior to World War II, my three siblings were born in the Japanese Hospital of Los Angeles, a hospital that was founded because Japanese immigrants were not allowed to use white hospitals.  As a result of the relocation, my parents lost the grocery store and five & dime store they operated in LA’s little Tokyo.  I can only imagine the overt racism members of my family experienced. 
 
My mother was the oldest of nine children.  Seven of her siblings also went to relocation camps.  One sibling, an uncle I never met, died when the Hiroshima bomb fell.  The other sibling, my aunt Alice, survived the atomic bomb but lost her husband and young daughter.  Remarkably, Alice just turned 100.  By the way, all nine children in my mother’s family were American citizens.  Two of my uncles volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army after being released from camp.
 
I was born shortly after World War II ended and did not experience the same level of overt racism.  I grew up in Denver, Colorado, the nearest large city after my parents were released from the Amache relocation camp.  I certainly recall racial taunts directed at me from time to time.  Being called a “chink” and a “Jap” were probably the most common.  The 1950’s were not that far removed from World War II and there were still hard feelings about the war, even though the great majority of Japanese Americans were American citizens.

My family moved back to California when I was age 12.  We lived in Gardena, at the time the mainland city with the highest percentage of Japanese Americans outside of Hawaii.  Racial tensions were a fact of life.  The Gardena Buddhist Church I attended was set on fire in two arson incidents.  When the Vietnam War broke out in the 1960’s, Asian Americans again became easily identified targets for hostility.  I still remember a high school friend who was drafted talk about being singled out by his platoon leader, who proclaimed to gathered American soldiers:  “This is what a Gook looks like.”
 
AAPI people occupy a peculiar place among peoples of color.  On the one hand, we are sometimes under the radar or even held up as “model minorities.”  Japanese Americans, especially, have often been cited for being successful academically and assimilating well into the dominant culture.  Certainly, there are wealthy and successful Asian Americans.  But AAPI peoples represent diverse, multicultural histories and traditions.  There are plenty of poor, struggling AAPI who live in poverty and are struggling to survive. 
 
AAPI people can also become highly visible, especially during times of economic or political stress.  It becomes convenient to blame AAPI folks for the “Kungflu” or “China virus.”  The late Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit in 1982 because two white men thought he was Japanese and should be blamed for the decline of American automakers.  Asian Americans were targeted after the outbreak of the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as World War II.
 
As an adult, I have often experienced interactions that tell me I am seen as different.  Perhaps the most common one is “where are you from?”  I know I am not being asked if I am from Denver, Gardena, Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, or Oxnard, all places I have lived.  I am sorry that I have to explain I am not a math wizard, am not crazy about sushi, like VWs more than Toyotas, and am not fluent in Japanese.  Stereotypes sometimes worked in my favor.  I recall that bullies in elementary school thought I knew karate so left me alone.
 
Madelaine and I moved to Oxnard in 2015, attracted in part because of Oxnard’s diversity.  Japanese Americans have a long history in the city.  They famously worked the strawberry fields in the area.  Two of Oxnard’s mayors were of Japanese ancestry.  The Oxnard Buddhist Church was founded in 1929.
 
I am especially proud that the Oxnard City Council recently passed a resolution condemning racism, xenophobia, violence, and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.  The resolution was initiated by white and Latino council members. I have noted that many key members of Oxnard city government, from citizen advisory groups to the Mayor to the City Council to the City Manager and city staff are people of color.  It is a great thing that city governance reflects the diversity of the community.
 
I am also happy that the UUA recently acknowledged the surge in hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans.  It called upon federal, state, and local governments to send a clear message that anti-Asian violence and harassment will not be tolerated.  The UUA recognized that anti-AAPI racism is rooted in the same white supremacy that targets all BIPOC people.  White supremacy culture is so deeply rooted in our country’s history that it remains one of the great challenges of our time.  It is the source of systemic racism that seeks to marginalize all people who are seen as different. 
 
I especially appreciate the UU principles that affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and that we should seek justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.  It is with interest that I note a recent movement towards forming AAPI caucuses within UUA regions and the Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUMM). 
 
I am hopeful that UUCV will continue to promote a healthy examination of race relations, both internally and beyond church boundaries.  Programs such as Beloved Conversations, Witnessing Whiteness, and the formation of a cluster-wide BIPOC Caucus offer opportunities to promote multiculturalism and better race relations.  I encourage all of us to take advantage of these kinds of opportunities.  Understanding our own attitudes about race and working towards racial equality are long-term challenges that require patience and a commitment to intentional change.
 
 
Be well,
Yukio Okano
UUCV Board President