From Rev. Sandra’s Study – December 2020

We all know this has been a hard year in so many ways. Our spirits are a bit frayed. So as we enter this season of light, I wish for each of you the renewal of hope. This is what the winter holy days promise. I offer you these words of meditation and prayer to help you to manifest that hope more fully in yourself and others.

Yours in peace, light, and love,

Rev. Sandra Fees

Breathed into the World by Rev. Sandra Fees

Whoever you are, wherever you go,
May you know the stillness of winter
and the call to love.
May you see the moon
silvering the night sky
and let the dark of midnight
plunge you into your truest self
and fling you back out again
to a world in need of who you are.
May there be the familiar carols
you know by heart
and new melodies to set you free.
May there be feasting and frolicking,
kindness and wonderment.
And may there be wise people
to follow a star in the East
and a child to teach us to love
and enough magic
to let the imagination go wild,
to let Christmas arrive with its enchantments,
with its glitter, glow, and gold,
to let what wants to be born break through.
May the presence of the holy
crowd out fear, hate, and worry
and proclaim in this moment
that peace and goodwill might yet
be breathed into the world,
and avow that we too can give birth to love,
wherever we go, whoever we are.

When making music, there comes a time to be silent. This can often be confused for stillness. While our voices or instruments may not be ringing – we are listening for the next entrance, we are counting the measures, we are watching the conductor. There is a lot of activity underneath all of that stillness.

That stillness can be a time of paying more attention to the players around us and our surroundings in general. What have you noticed in this great stillness of the past many months? What will sound sweeter when it starts playing again?

nadine j. smet-weiss

spiritual director

stillness

just to hear

the word

takes me

there

which is

here

fully

if even

for a moment

for a breath

present to

life energy

exploding

into being

One of our beloved UU Berks traditions is passing the light from one person to another while we join in singing Silent Night. To enable us to share joyfully in that tradition while worshiping virtually, each family is invited to pick up a Christmas Eve Candle Bag. Each bag includes a card, two candles, the music for Silent Night, and some chalice words too. We have a few bags with battery-operated candles available for our members living in facilities with no candle flame rules. Please note that we are limiting the candles to 2 per household. If you have not signed up you can still stop by and pick up a candle bag.

You may pick up at two times and locations – but we do ask that you indicate your intention to do so here https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F45A5A92DA5FA7-christmas
or by sending an email to office@uuberks.org in order for us to be well-prepared.

• Sat., Dec. 5, 2-3 pm at Oheb Sholom, 555 Warwick Dr, Wyomissing- RAIN OR SHINE

Packets will be available on a table under the carport . You can drive through, hop out and get one. Rev. Sandra will be in the parking lot so feel free to say hello – socially distanced and masked, of course.

• Thurs., Dec. 10, 11:30 am-12:30 pm at UU Berks, 416 Franklin St, Reading

Packets will be available in the Chalice House foyer. Ebee Bromley will be there to greet you and let you in. Please be sure to wear a mask and socially distance.
If you are unable to pick up a Christmas Eve Candle Bag, we will be posting the song/chalice sheet, but we do ask that you provide your own candles to light. Questions? Please send an email to office@uuberks.org.

FUUBC is involved in planning this wonderful interfaith event in the spirit of Las Posadas.

We need your participation to make sure we are well represented!

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2020 AT 3:30 PM EST – 5 PM EST

Get on the caravan of hope in person and from your home. On Sunday, we will be bringing hope and light to imprisoned families at Berks – participate in a colorful car caravan in front of the detention center which ends with a short vigil with lots of light. We will also have virtual actions during this upcoming week that you can participate in from home.

Decorate your car with signs of hope, strings of battery lights, and other bright messages and symbols. #ShutDownBerks

More details for the Dec. 6 event can be found at  https://www.facebook.com/events/206391494347756

Follow Shut Down Berks Interfaith Witness or the Shut Down Berks Coalition on Facebook to find out more about the virtual events as details are posted.

Please email g.immigration.justice@uuberks.org to let us know you can come (which would help us know we do not need to reach out to you)
or just show up!

As with most things in 2020, this year’s gift tree is going to be a bit different. This year, our gift tree will add joy to families in Family Promise. Due to COVID-19, Family Promise has had to change their rotating church model to an apartment rental program. While this gives added stability to these

families, it has resulted in added costs of everyday living and furnishing of the apartments.

Also, in an effort to limit the amount of people going to stores to purchase gifts, we are asking you to consider a suggested donation of $25 or more if you are able. Family Promise will use these funds to purchase gift cards for families.

Please send a check payable to FUUBC and write”Family Promise Gift” in the memo within the next week.

As always, thank you for your continued generosity.

Peace,

Kent Gutzler

The Special Plate Collection is a ministry of our church that connects us tangibly to our neighboring agencies. It is one way we act as an ally and reach our neighbors in need. Once a month, First UU Berks designates a Sunday offering collection to benefit a non-profit organization working on issues that reflect our spiritual values and principles. Beneficiaries of these offerings are recommended and voted on by the congregation.While there are many, many deserving agencies, we suggest programs that are most in line with our UU values and also in the most need. Each organization has a 501(3)(c) status and has not received a plate collection in the last 12 months.

Below are the organizations who have received Special Plate Collections. In addition to these, the congregation has generously supported the fundraising efforts of Cyndi Dimovitz in June 2020 for Family Promise ($2075) and Jim Beidler in October 2020 for the Crop Walk ($2835).

Past Recipients in 2020

Jan  – Spectrum                      $666
Feb  – Make the ROAD             $568
April – First UU COVID Fund $2980
May – Olivet Boys & Girls Club $410
Oct -UU the Vote  $225.20
Nov 2020 – Co-County Wellness $215
Dec 2020 – PA Environmental Defense Fund
Jan 2021 – Black Lives of UU

The Social Justice Coordination Committee THANKS everyone who has supported the Special Plate collections this year and in previous years. An important part of social justice is connecting to organizations in our community.

You may now vote for the Spring 2021 recipients on this ballot. Please try to complete the GoogleForm online. If that’s not possible, then feel free to send your top 4 selections (one in each category) by:
1) email to cdimovitz@gmail.com or phone 610-334-8309
2) mail to the church office before Dec. 20th

Join us on Monday December 7th, @ 7:00pm when gather around the theme of Love as the way forward, and ask the question of what that might look like in our lives. Contact Jane Rohrbach (windowsjmr@comcast.net) or Nadine Smet-Weiss (njw1258@hotmail.com or 484-333-4015) for further information; contact Nadine to receive the zoom link for this gathering.

Closed captioning is now available for Sunday service. Please note that not all Zoom virtual meeting rooms/meeting IDs have closed captioning. You will need to be using a current version of the Zoom Client App (the latest version is 5.4.1).

Each participant will be able to toggle closed captioning on/off if the Zoom meeting room has it enabled.

To turn on closed captions, click on the “Closed Caption” button in the Zoom menu bar and then select “Show Subtitles.”  Once it is turned on, you can adjust the font size by clicking on the “Closed Caption” button again and selecting “subtitle settings”.  Note: if the button doesn’t show up on your Zoom menu bar, most likely closed captioning is not available in your current Zoom virtual meeting room.

We have created a short YouTube video to demonstrate how to use Zoom closed captioning. Here is the link to the video:    https://uuberks.org/zoom-cc

Contact g.it.services@uuberks.org if you have any questions.

We have established a Zoom service tech line if you are having trouble logging into our Sunday service. If you do not get an immediate answer, leave a message and your call will be returned momentarily.Dial 484-925-1684.

UU Faith-At-Home Recipe Book

Each month your RE team likes to offer you resources and gifts that help you practice Unitarian Universalism at home. In this month focused on healing and Thanksgiving we are excited to share with you the UU Faith At Home Recipe Book. Each week on the RE facebook page we’ll explore a different aspect including our chalice, covenant, altar space, worship time and family meetings.

If you would like the recipe book printed and delivered to you please contact director.religious.education@uuberks.org

If you can download and print the book yourself click here for the link.

Thanks to co-author, York, Pa Director of Lifespan Faith Development, Matthew Shineman for sharing his creation with us.

This fall choir is meeting over zoom every other week.  Each meeting we get to stretch our voices from the comfort of our own homes.  The commute time to choir has decreased to the click of a zoom link and the fun has increased to the speed of a laugh

We have fun at choir!  Singing different songs from our hymnals and from our choir library.

So come join us on: Oct 28, Nov 4, Nov 18, Dec 2nd, and Dec 16th

This fall we get to collaborate with Immanuel UCC, and the Unitarian Church of Lancaster to record stirring and beautiful music together. Contact music.director@uuberks.org  with any questions.

Zoom link to join: https://zoom.us/j/877449892
Meeting ID: 877 449 892
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,877449892# US (New York)

This Fall, Rev. Dr. Sandra Fees begins her 17th year as our minister. Part of our commitment to her is to provide one month of sabbatical time for every five years of service. The time has come again to afford Rev. Sandra a sabbatical to renew and expand her spiritual, emotional, and intellectual gifts.

The Board has approved a sabbatical for January 1-May 31, 2021. We are pleased to provide this support to sustain and grow Rev. Sandra’s ministry with us and our broader UU movement, and we are confident that her sabbatical will be a time of renewal and growth for us all. We also know that this is a challenging and uncertain time in our world with so many disruptions.

In consultation with Rev. Sandra and the finance team, the Board has approved Rev. Sage Olnick, our Affiliated Community Minister, to serve as Part-time Sabbatical Minister during this time. We believe that this will provide the confidence and support our congregation needs to continue our important ministries.

Rev. Sage will provide a trusted ministerial presence during this time. Her time will be devoted to governance, social justice, and pastoral care. She is not meant to be a replacement for our settled minister, Rev. Sandra, but to provide ministerial support during this time. Rev. Sage’s contract with the congregation includes:

• providing three worship services each month
• attending monthly Board meetings
• facilitating monthly pastoral care team meetings
• providing pastoral care for crisis situations
• attending a limited number of committee meetings (to be agreed upon in advance of sabbatical)
• monthly check ins with the staff (the Board will have supervisory responsibility during the sabbatical)

During the sabbatical, Rev. Sandra will be free of all ministerial responsibilities. However, in the event of a member death, a member testing positive for Covid-19, or a church crisis, Rev. Sage Olnick and/or our Board President, Lynn O’Brien will be in contact with Rev. Sandra.

While this may seem a difficult time for a sabbatical due to Covid-19 and the many disruptions in our world, we anticipate that this timing will ultimately serve us all best. In particular, we hope that sometimes around Rev. Sandra’s return from sabbatical we might be able to once again worship, gather, learn, and be together in person in our beautiful building.

If you have any questions or concerns about the sabbatical, please contact Lynn O’Brien, Board President, or Rev. Dr. Sandra Fees.

If you are in need of a church directory, would like to update your pledge, sign up for Egiving or just have general questions? Please contact our office administrator at office@uuberks.org

• You can now give online on our website UUberks.org by clicking on the online giving tab or clicking
  here
• You can also give by downloading the GivePlus app on google play and the App store below. You can easily locate our church by zip code 19602