No one is a monolith. This Sunday we consider the ways we are connected by our individual and collective stories.

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.

Reflections from Beloved Conversations by Be Young

Dear Beloveds,

I am offering a few musings about Beloved Conversations through Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago.  Because I am white, I am enrolled in the group of registrants who are all white: the other two groupings of study offered are BIPOC+ (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and Religious Professionals. These segregated groups

allow for focus on issues specific to our categories; in my case white identity and what the anti-racist version of that identity is.  Segregation of groups allows each to focus on its own unlearnings, and the healing each group needs in order to acquire new perceptions of selves and others.

By doing the work that includes readings, videos, discussions, critical friend conversations, on-line meetings, listening, observing and ample provided support, … I am changed.  My awareness of the privilege I have lived is heart breaking and heart opening.

While on vacation, sitting in the car at check-out I began to notice that white people pulled up to the front of the building, cars idling and walked inside to check out.  Persons of color parked along the sides of the building and then walked to the front entrance to go inside.  I am changed.

While observing some pandemic performances on a streaming site, a young man tossed something in the air and suddenly through clever editing, appeared in full costume performing Indigenous dancing, my heart fluttered with respect and awe for a culture I heretofore regarded with detached interest.  I am changed.

During participation in group activities usually online, I am becoming aware of motivation to give my opinion; but am learning to listen and allow ideas to be promoted by all participants while at the same time asking for the group to listen to ideas from persons of color, “I’d like to hear more about what she is saying.”  I am changed.

I am changing by acknowledging the layering of privilege with which I have lived.  I am changed and I am changing.  My hope is that you, too, will join me and opt for this work through Beloved Conversations.  The people who pursued this initiative for our First UU BERKS congregation, and those who continue to encourage others to sign on, are my personal heroes for positive social change.

Do you wish to deepen your understanding of how race and ethnicity play out in our institutions and our daily lives? Are you ready to take a leading role to nurture a multicultural future in the face of opposing cultural currents? Come Join Us for this Life-Changing Weekend!

Weekend activities: The training includes presentations, discussions, videos, exercises, and small group work. This 2 ½ day workshop is open to anyone who wants to journey toward making a stand against racism. Church members and church leaders of any faith, as well as non-church members are all welcome!

Our goals are:

• To develop a shared analysis of racism and its individual, institutional, and cultural manifestations, and
• To begin to apply this common understanding to the history, culture, and institutional structure of our society, and to envision the next steps in taking action.

Agenda topics include:

• The history of racism and resistance to racism in the Americas
• Defining racism
• The effects of racism on people of color and on white people
• Dismantling racism
• Claiming and shaping an anti-racist identity

Trainers are Paula Cole Jones, Dr Leon Spencer and Lutricia Callair.

Questions:Contact Jean Cocuzza : jeancocuzza@yahoo.com ;
for more info and to register visit link below:
https://www.uua.org/central-east/calendar/jubilee-3-0621

Partial scholarships available contact treasurer@uuberks.org to apply.

We are now selecting the next FIVE organizations we will support during our next six-month cycle. We ask that you nominate and suggest local organizations to be placed on the eventual ballot. By clicking the link below you will find a listing of past Special Plate recipients and the amounts that we donated toward their work.

uuberks.org/special-plate-suggestions

Please respond by midnight on Saturday, May 29th.

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

What can you find on the UUBerks Member Info site?

• Email contact information for our staff and all of our committees
• The current version of the Church Directory, the Member Photo Album, as well as our current budget and board meeting minutes
• Links to all of our recurring Zoom meetings
• Help documentation and FAQs

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 and request access.

https://uuberks.org/member-info-signup

Here are a few common questions and answers:

1)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.

2)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/ 

3)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.

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.

• 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

Our chalice lighting for the month is from Robin Shaw. She asks us to remember our stories. As you read or proclaim her words.

What story comes up for you?

What story do you need to remember?

What story do you need to create?

nadine j. smet-weiss

history

lives

through us

even stories

once silenced

eventually emerge

into the present

like forgotten seeds

germinating

may we find

the courage

to be good tenders

of this new arising

to embrace it fully

flaws and all

may we let love

lead the way