Join us as we cap off our Climate Revival weekend with a special service of inspiration and encouragement, including guests via video from around the UU-Sphere.
Sunday Volunteers: Greeters: Liz E. & Dennis W. Ushers: Carol O. & Joanne K. Coffee Crew: Gerrie M. & Al L.
This Month’s Share the Plate recipient is The LGBT Center of Greater Reading
The LGBT Center of Greater Reading creates, administers, and provides services, advocacy, and support to the Greater Reading LGBTQ+ community, including our allies, with the goal that all may live a life of fulfillment, inclusion, and celebration.
Please make checks payable to FUUBC with LGBT in the memo line.
The theme we are celebrating for February is “Inclusion”
This month’s bedtime story is “You are not Alone” by Ashely Evans and the Alphabet Rockers
It can be scary to feel like you’re all on your own, especially in the face of prejudice and injustice. But always remember: you are not alone! With uplifting text and colorful art, You Are Not Alone shows readers that when we step up to support one another, we can make a world where everyone knows they belong.
Please check out our Remind classroom. If you need to signup link here: remind.com/join/refuucbc
Register for 2024-2025 learning year: each year we need a new registration – fill yours out today www.uuberks.org/registration
Our OWL program begins again starting in January 2025 – OWL will be geared to kids in grades 4-6. Covering a range of topics, including sexual health, gender identity, and relationships. The program is based on the principles of inclusivity, justice, responsibility, sexual health, and self-worth.
If you are interested in learning more please sign up!
Join us on Monday 2/3 @ 7:00pm, via zoom for Contemplative Companions when we will be giving our attention to the practice of inclusion. How do we meet the challenge of embracing differences? How do we welcome, respect and value others? Advanced reflection on these question(s) is optional – what rises spontaneously in the moment For further information or to receive the zoom link, contact Nadine at njw1258@hotmail.com
Do you have a joyous event happening in your life or a struggle that you are enduring ? Our caring circle wants to know! Please reach out to our Caring Circle at: g.caring.circle@uuberks.org
Dennis Williams
Chances are if you have walked through our door you have been greeted by the sunshine that is Dennis Williams. Dennis has served as a Greeter and Usher to our community for years, He has also served on various committees. He has represented First UU Berks at Pridefest and has been a non-official liaison to our local NAACP chapter. Dennis is always there to answer a question or help a newcomer with a smile that lights up our Church. We are so lucky to have Dennis Williams and all that he brings to First UU Berks!
Church Members Website
Did you know that we have a private website for members only at https://member-info.uuberks.org ? It is basically an electronic version of a bulletin board. On the website you can also find links to important documents (like the Budget, Bylaws, Church Directory,…), important email addresses ( like Staff, Committees, … email addresses), and a host of “how to” docs (like Google Forms Have 2 Links, Email Account vs. Email Alias, Google Workspace Guide for New Users,…
If you have any questions, send them to Frank @ frank.wilder@uuberks.org. 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.
Does UUBerks have an email list for open communications between members on any topic. Yes, it is called the Friends of UUBerksemail list. Contact Frank W. to be added to the email list.
Building Maintenance Goes Digital!
The Building Keepers are excited to announce a new, streamlined way to submit maintenance requests! Now, you can easily report any issues using a convenient Google Form accessible from your smartphone or laptop. This digital system will help us track and resolve projects more efficiently.
Here’s how to submit a request:
Look for QR Codes: Scan the QR codes posted around the building using your smartphone’s camera app.
Direct Link: Alternatively, you can access the form directly by visiting this link on your laptop or phone’s browser: https://uuberks.org/bk-ticket
We appreciate your cooperation in using this new system. It will allow us to better serve you and maintain our facilities effectively.
FUUBC is part of the Giant charitable grocery scrip program that gives 10% of all gift cards sold back to our church. You can purchase cards as needed or sign up for a monthly gift card order that will be sent directly to your home the first week of each month.
When you receive your order you will also receive a return envelope to mail your check to the church. Checks can also be dropped in the Gerber room drop box or in the plate collection. Checks should be made out to FUUBC with giant card in the memo line.
If you would like to purchase Giant cards please return the form below to Melissa at office@uuberks.org. One time cards can also be purchased from Melissa at coffee hour twice a month.
Giant cards are available in $50 and $100 increments.
I’ve recently started a rewatch of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso (this and The Good Place are my emotional support binge-watches). For those unfamiliar with the show, it’s a fish out of water comedy about an American college football coach hired to lead a struggling English Premiere League football (soccer) team. But it’s not a show about sports. Ultimately, it’s about building healthy relationships among individuals and in a community. Early on in the show, when a sports writer asks him what success would look like to a coach who doesn’t understand the game, Ted answers, “Success is not about the wins and losses. It’s about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves, on and off the field.” And for the remainder of its three seasons, the show sets out to do just that on the field and in the back office. The one-man-showboating superstar grows to become a true team player. His model girlfriend declares her independence from him and finds her true calling. The past-his-prime all-star breaks down his walls to become the leader he needs to be. And in the process, the audience gets to see examples of healthy, intimate friendships – friendships between men that aren’t rooted in toxic masculinity, between women that aren’t centered on the men in their lives, and between men and women that aren’t centered on the pursuit of sex. True, deep connections. Radical!
Ultimately, Ted Lasso, is a story about the power of belonging – of committing to something of value that’s bigger than any of us while becoming our whole, human selves and forging real connections to other whole human selves. It tells the story without being preachy. It doesn’t put any one character on a pedestal, and is often heartbreakingly honest about the characters’ flaws. And it shows that the community and the relationships that are built are plausible. It holds up a window onto a potential way of being and says, “See? It’s a struggle, but it’s possible.”
It’s that possibility that keeps me turning back to the show when times are hard and I’m struggling with hope. The phrase beloved community gets tossed about in our church world regularly (I know, I’ve done some of that tossing), sometimes to the point where I fear it loses meaning. And sometimes it feels like an impossible goal. But the lesson of Ted Lasso is that building Beloved Community isn’t about creating a utopia. It isn’t about an end product at all. It is a process, a continual work in progress – uncovering out better selves, helping others do the same, and in turn creating a community that becomes its better self, one person at a time, one day at a time.
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I’ll be taking a week of study leave beginning on Monday, February 10th. I’ll be back in the office Tuesday, February 18th. This is for me to renew, get caught up on reading and advanced sermon prep, and work on some longer-term writing. I’ll be available that week for emergencies only.
See you in church!
John
Inclusion Affirmations a tool for Liberating Love
How do we practice liberating love through inclusion? It starts at home. This practice starts with you. Liberating Love starts with Us. On Sunday morning we light a chalice. Do you light a chalice at home? In these days where liberation for so many of us feels quite distant, we need to lean into practices that help us practice what we preach.
Each month the Soulful Home resource outlines a practice you can try out at home that connects with our theme. This month, the practice is one of creating Inclusion Affirmations. (Be sure that you’re connected to us through Remind or email director.religious.education@uuberks.org for the link to Soulful Home: Inclusion packet.)
I used affirmations as a spiritual tool to connect my hopes to that which is greater than me and counter narratives that didn’t serve our goals when I was preparing to give birth. Affirmations are a tool of strength. Reciting chosen affirmations connected me to my family, the generations before, and the generations yet to come. As we collectively labor to create a more inclusive world, I invite you to create some affirmations to help you in the days ahead.
Soulmatters contributor April Rosario shares the key elements of spiritual affirmations: They are created with intention. Repetition gives spiritual affirmations power. We create affirmations in alignment with our core values. In the repetition we find that the affirmation is embedded deep down and it can shape your thoughts, emotions and actions in a spiritual way.
Try It Out!
Try out creating an affirmation for inclusion this month! Here are April’s steps:
Choose an affirmation to remind you of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, regardless of their differences. Create an affirmation that will help you have an attitude of acceptance, compassion, and unity in your relationships with others. Do you want your affirmation to focus on inclusion, compassion, or unity? You choose.
Examples to get you started:
We are all connected
Every person has value
We celebrate our differences
Ebee
ode to rumi and rilke
by nadine j. smet-weiss spiritual director
this being human is a guest house let our living be an answer to the question of what it means to welcome all that comes treat each guest honorably and recognize each as a guide from beyond
