Feminist Sharon Welch wrote, “We need to learn that failure to develop the strength to remain angry, in order to continually love and therefore to resist, is to die.” This Sunday we will explore anger and creative rage as sources of wisdom to do the hard work of justice.
For Sunday’s worship, we are using the Zoom conferencing platform. It is easy to Zoom from a computer, tablet, or phone! Here is how you do it: With a computer, smartphone or tablet, click on this link to participate: uuberks.org/zoom-worship (If it’s the first time you’re using zoom you may be prompted to download a launcher app).
To connect by phone (audio only):
1) Dial the phone number: 1-646-558-8656
2) When prompted for the “Meeting ID”, enter: 999-805-145-23#
3) When prompted for the “Participant ID”, enter: #
Please plan to log on by 10:20 or 10:25 am so that you can establish a connection before worship is scheduled to begin. Please note that your mic will be muted and will remain muted for the service. Our service concludes with “virtual coffee hour” when members and friends are unmuted.
Seeds, Sprouts and Saplings (elementary ages): in RE Hangout Zoom Room
Where Black Leaders Are Honored- Jayné & Erin lead class this week. When we think about Beloved Community, one can’t help reflecting on the work of BLUU (Black Lives of UU) and DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries). This morning we learn who these two organizing groups are and we get to play some games to understand how their/our work gets done.
For All: This week we will embrace how rage can be creatively wielded for good.
Coloring Sheet: “Spiral Stones“coloring page by DRE at large Jenn Blosser
Activity: Take a piece of paper and crumple it into the tiniest ball you can form. Take that ball and observe how compact it is now compared to when it was a flat piece of paper. Toss that now ball in the air a few times. Could you toss the flat paper in the same way? Now take that ball and carefully unfold it. Can you use something to color with to trace the lines the no longer so flat paper has?
10:45 – 11:30
Youth Group (7th grade & up): Look for a note from your leaders as to when your next meeting is. If you are a visitor – email director.religious.education@uuberks.org for more information.
The 2020 Service Auction is not the same as other years, our primary motivation in this isolating time: Come together as a community, hence our theme “UU Heart to UU Heart”. Following social distancing recommendations during COVID-19, our auction will be conducted fully online. We will be using an online auction website to host the silent auction for two weeks (Jan. 31 – Feb. 14) and Zoom to conduct the live auction.
Here is the link to the auction website where you can bid on Silent Auction items : uuberks.org/service-auction.
The Live auction is this Saturday night, here is the link to the Zoom meeting: https://uuberks.org/live-service-auction. You will need to register and purchase a $10 ticket to be able to bid on auction items. A single ticket can be shared by everyone in your household that is on the shared Zoom connection. If you just want to watch the Live auction, there is no fee.
We need your help. If you want to bid on items during the Live auction, you will need to make a bidding paddle:
Fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise (for a short fat rectangle)
Using the whole side of the paper, write your bidding number clearly on one side and a “?” on the other. (ie. Make it LARGE, so that it is easy to read)
Your bidding number can be found in your email from the auction, and also at the bottom of the Auction website screen once you’re logged in.
To bid, hold your numbered bid paddle in front of your nose and mouth. If you only raise your hand or your paddle it might go off-camera or be missed. Our FUUBC bid spotters will relay your bids to the auctioneers. Bid spotters can only see you if your video is on.
The winning bidder will be asked to hold their NUMBERED paddle again, for confirmation.
Use the back of your paddle (the side with a “?”) to get a bid spotter to unmute you.
Finally, if you would like to volunteer to help with the auction or have a question/suggestion, send us an email at g.service.auction@uuberks.org. Many thanks from the Service Auction Committee.
Growing Anti-Racist UU’s is a new curriculum created by the UU congregation in Charlottesville with partnership from a credentialed religious educator. The first series of 8 lessons we will be teaching help children in grades K-2 and 3-5 engage with racial justice and anti-bias learning in an age-appropriate way, through stories, crafts, activities, and discussions–all within the principles of Unitarian Universalism.
“Growing Anti-Racist UU’s” lessons being offered this winter/spring, co-taught by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster over Zoom. We are looking for a rough estimate of the number of families who will participate and dates and times that will work for your family.
Please take two minutes and fill out this poll about lesson time preferences for your children.
Watch this video from the Beloved Conversations Design Team!
Join us for Beloved Conversations Virtual
Registration for Spring Term 2021: February 1 – 26, 2021
Beloved Conversations—the signature offering of The Fahs Collaborative at Meadville Lombard Theological School—is a program for Unitarian Universalists seeking to embody racial justice as a spiritual practice. In Beloved Conversations, we are here to heal the impact of racism on our lives, in order to get free together.
In Fall 2020, we launched a newly reimagined and redesigned Beloved Conversations as an online program. Over 1,200 learners participated in the first “Within” phase. We are so excited to continue, and would like you to join us!
Phases
Beloved Conversations Virtual will be released in three phases:
WITHIN (the individual, personal work we each need to do), launched in Fall 2020
AMONG (the institutional, systemic change needed in our congregations), planned launch in Fall 2021
BEYOND (the work outside our congregations, with our local communities), planned launch in Fall 2022
The first phase “Within” focuses on the internal work that each of us needs to do, as we engage personal exploration of race and our work for racial justice. This work is different for white folks and for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and other racially targeted groups (BIPOC+)* and “Within” phase will be done entirely in race-based caucuses/courses.
An invitation to BIPOC+* to the Gathering Our Selves course
BIPOC+ work has been a neglected conversation, as much anti-racism work has been focused on the learning needs of white folks. For those of us who identify as BIPOC+, we recognize the need to understand the impact of racism in our lives— particularly our spiritual lives—and the choices we have made to survive.
In this curriculum, we will look at issues such as how and why Unitarian Universalist values matter to us, how race has shaped our personal and communal lives, the dynamics of why and how we stay in the faith, and what a theology for BIPOC+ in a white-dominated society might look like.
Gathering Our Selves will run in two cohorts: one for people who have completed the Fall Term and one for those who are new to the program in the Spring. The two cohorts will have opportunities to come together for worship and connection.
An invitation to white folks to the Un/Learning for Liberation course
Wherever we white folks are on the journey toward collective liberation—whether you are just waking up to systemic racial injustice or your heart has been breaking for a long time—you are invited to join us for Un/Learning for Liberation. We will explore within ourselves as individual white people, within our family and community systems, and within the system of whiteness, which has impacted and limited our ability to truly be present with and connected to ourselves and our siblings of color. But we get to choose to be and do differently. Beginning within ourselves.
This is a space for justice-making and spiritual formation, a place where we honor complexity, nuance, and grace. We will bear witness to one another as we engage a process of introspection, honest reflection, and challenge what we always thought we knew or were too afraid or embarrassed to ask. We will learn together about how this system has impacted us and dis-connected us from ourselves and our BIPOC+ kin and how it was implanted in us without our consent. And we will unlearn some of our deeply ingrained habits of perception, thought, and behavior, while practicing spiritual skills for humility, resistance, and solidarity.
Un/Learning for Liberation will run in one cohort, regardless of folks’ previous participation in the program. Content will be different in Spring than in the Fall Term.
More Information at Our Website
Go to meadville.edu/beloved to read more about the program. In the Beloved Conversations Virtual section of our website, you can find:
On February 21 at noon, our ADORE team will continue to consider the role of capitalism in supporting racism, invoking the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ibram Kendi, and our own FUUBC community. Friends and members are invited to participate in this ADORE discussion and encouraged to invite others to join in the dialog.
Friends and members are invited to participate in this ADORE discussion and encouraged to invite others to join in the dialog.
First UU Church of Berks Co. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Adore Listening Cafe
Time: Feb 21, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Is your congregation ready to take a new step in changing white supremacy culture? Want to learn what your fellow congregations are working on, and how you might apply it at home?
Join a continent of UUs as we explore next steps in creating Beloved UU Communities
On Your Own:
Watch compelling video TED-talk style testimonials from selected congregations around the continent sharing their learnings, hopes and next steps in their quest for racial equity in their congregations
Together on February 27, 2021
Worship ~ Workshops ~ Caucusing
With plenty of breaks
9a-6p PT/10a-7p MT/11a-8p CT/12n-9p ET
Register Now Do note that youth need to have permission forms signed before they can attend.
Cost will be a sliding scale fee of your choosing: $20/30/40/50.Registration fees are on a sliding scale, based on your assessment of your ability to pay.Those who pay at the two highest levels are making a donation to help those in financial need for this event. Please remember that for a sliding scale to work, we need the same number of people with means to generously pay more to balance the needs of those who can afford less. (This is one way we try to build the Beloved Community!) If you are part of a congregational team of three or more, please pay the lowest fee.
Brought to you by the Unitarian Universalist Association
Workshops Include:
Prework – Congregational Testimonial Videos about work they are doing.
Uprooting White Supremacy inherent in Covenant Building with Natalie Briscoe, Cameron Young, Christine Purcell
Covenant, Evil and Labor: A Preface of Welcome for Young Folx of Color with Sara Green, Tyler Coles, Sana Saeed, Jaidyn Bryan, Rev. Stevie Carmody, Micaela Lattimer
Congregational paths to address both Climate Crisis and Systemic Oppression with Rev. Karen Brammer
Now What? For Congregations with 25% or more BIPOC members with Rev. Erica Baron
Staying the Course – Navigating Pushback, Fatigue, and Reactivity in Dismantling White Supremacy with Hilary Allen
Leading Anti-racism In Our Congregations As Black, Indigenous, and People of Color with Rev. Sunshine Wolfe. Offered in both workshop slots.
There’s an Elephant in the Room: How to Have Difficult Conversations in Church with Rev. Tandi Rogers. Offered in both workshop slots.
The 8th Principle with Paula Cole Jones. Offered in both workshop slots.
Organizing for Liberation: Developing an Organizing Strategy Rooting in Anti-Racism with Rev. Michael Crumpler and Organizing Strategy Team
Imani Ritual with Ayanna Kafi Stringer and Rev. Duncan E Teague
Foundations of Community Building with Shannon Harper
The Congregation of Our Dreams with Janice Marie Johnson
Song Writing with Lea Morris
Copy the Google (ICS) or Outlook (ICS) link address to subscribe to this event (or download the file to import it) in a program which supports the iCal format.
Quote of the Week – “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Extreme economic inequality leads to political inequality which is a large problem for our democracy! Let’s change that nationally
and in Pennsylvania!
Video (4) – Robert Reich on what election day revealed about progressive policies. Report – Billionaire Wealth vs Community Health is a report from Bargaining for the Common Good, Institute for Policy Studies, and United for Respect discusses how to protect essential workers from pandemic profiteers.
Fighting for the ‘Democracy We Want’ in Pennsylvania is a long term project to reform legislative rules, reform redistricting procedures, improve voting rights/participation, rminimize the role of money in campaigns, securing the vote with hand-marked paper ballots and reform governmental ethics .
Article – Fair Districts PA explains why legislative rules reform is needed. Video (18) – Fair Districts presents ‘Dysfunction By Design’ and excellent look at why the legislative rules are at the root of the legislative dysfunction.
Video (98) – a long but informative town hall on judicial gerrymandering.
Fair Districts opposes House Bill 38 to elect state judges by district
rather than by the entire state. Infographic page on why HB 38 is not a good idea.
****Action to let your PA State Representative know you oppose HB 38
Upcoming events Good Government PA calendar with listing of virtual and in-person events across PA and nation. Tues. Feb. 2, 7 PM – February UUJusticePAGood Government 1st Tuesday
Conference Call – Click Here to join. Consider the zoom video feature. Thurs. Feb. 4, 7 PM – Fair Districts PA Monthly Conference Call(1st Thurs) Fri. Feb. 26, 7:30 PM – UUJusticePA presents “The Democracy We Want Series 2021: What Would That Look Like”. Sign up info coming in early Feb. Tues. March 2, 7 PM – All UUJusticePA 1stTuesday Conference Call -Click Here to join. Consider the zoom video feature. Thurs. March. 4, 7 PM – Fair Districts PA Monthly Conference Call(1st Thurs)
Did you catch the presentation at the December 2020 Congregational meeting on our new private Member Info website: member-info.uuberks.org ? Do you still have questions or need some help accessing it? Use the link below to register for either a 1-on-1 help session and/or an introduction to the website via Zoom. You can also use the form to just post a question about the private Member Info website. https://uuberks.org/member-info-signup
Here are a few common questions and answers:
Why do I have to login to access this site? This site is private and the information on it is for members only. By having a login, we can restrict access to those individuals that are FUUBC members.
I attend services all the time but I am not a member. How do I become a member? We have a page on our public website with all of the details. See https://uuberks.org/connect/become-a-member/
I have a Google account, but I don’t remember my password. (1) Go to the Google login page at accounts.google.com, (2) enter your email address, (3) click on the “next” button and (4) click on the “Forgot password” link.
Did you know that we record every church service that we host on Zoom? We use our UUBerks YouTube account to host those recordings.
To find the recordings…
1) Open up a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari,…) and navigate to our home page at uuberks.org
2) Once the page opens, click on the (2) Service Archive button. It is in the green box on the right side of the screen
3) The Past Worship Services page will open in the browser window. The services are sorted from “newest” to “oldest”. Click on the title of a service to find the video.
4) A dedicated web page for the service will open. At the bottom of the page, there is a video widget that you can use to view the recording. Click on the play button in the middle of the video widget to watch the video.
5) Once the video starts to play, you will see some buttons in the bottom of the video if you move your mouse cursor over the video widget. Click on the (1) CC button to turn on closed captioning, and click on the (2) Expand button to make the video full screen . There is also a pause button (not shown in the image below) , in the lower left-hand corner that you can use to pause the video so that you can refill your coffee cup.
If you have any questions about this hint or other technology issues, contact UUBerks IT Services at g.it.services@uuberks.org
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
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.
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
Giving Options in a time of coronavirus
We know that these are uncertain times and that some of our members and friends are being impacted financially as well as in so many other ways. For those who are able to make a gift or continue to contribute to their pledge, we have added some options. In addition to accepting checks and signing up for electronic giving, you can also now make your gifts from the website and via text. Here are the details:
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
If you have the teal hymnal at home, you might notice hymn number 1014 was originally published with a name other than “Answering the Call of Love”. You see when Singing The Journey was published the song “Standing on the Side of Love,” was a new song. It was a song inspired by the UUA president responding to the news of the day. When Rev Bill Sinkford heard that President Bush was calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Rev Sinkford took a call with a reporter to answer back “We are standing on the side of love.”
We know that love has more languages than words alone. So too do we need to honor a composer’s choice to change the words of a song and also find other ways to make this choice live. What languages (physical touch, quality time, receiving and giving gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation) do you have at your disposal to answer the call of love and witness everyone in our community?
Take this song in and respond for yourself – how are you “Answering the Call of Love” this month? Click to listen here
Find out more information and the full lyrics here
