This weekend, on Friday and Saturday, UU Berks has hosted our annual convention of Historically Universalist Congregations, and this morning, participants are invited to worship with us. The topic will be on our history. You should come and bring a friend!

To attend on site, FULL VACCINATION STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: FUUBC strongly encourages all those who can be vaccinated to be vaccinated, including boosters as appropriate.

MASKING RECOMMENDED: FUUBC strongly encourages attendees at worship services and other large gatherings to wear masks.

To attend by Zoom, click on this link: uuberks.org/zoom-worship. (If this is 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: 921 4271 5512#
   3) When prompted for the “Participant ID”, enter: #

Please plan to arrive or log on by 10:20-10:25 am to enjoy the gathering music, and, for those on zoom, to establish a connection before worship is scheduled begins. Zoom participant mics are muted throughout the service.

This Weekend:

• This month’s story is Badger’s Parting Gifts, by Susan Varley, a story Soul Matters suggests for our month exploring Heritage.  

• Badger’s Parting Gifts help us remember the gifts we get from understanding the cycle of life and death. 

• Listen to Ruby Dee read Badger’s Parting Gifts

SUNDAY

9:30 AM : Adult RE 

• In Person: chalice house craft room 

• Faith Formation in Month of Heritage: We explore topics chosen from past discussions.  This week’s topic – polyamory. 

• One of the goals of the Adult RE program is to get to know each other better.  What fascinating people sit around our table and how much we have to learn from each other.  There’s a place for you at our table.

• email Ginny Chudgar for more info (see directory for address)

• Onsite Only 

9:30 AM:Children’s RE: The Gifts of Our Faith – 2 classes

Elementary Ages:  Onsite/Online, email Ebee Bromley by Saturday noon if you’ll be attending online

• Lower elementary: Be A Tree, exploring our Roots with games

• Upper Elementary: What strength do our roots bring us? Using art to explore.

10:30- Worship Service- All Ages

We meet together to sing, to reflect, and to explore our world. 

How to make visual art directed by breath 

• Coloring Sheet: How Could Anyone – coloring pages set

• Use a printed or hand labyrinth to find renewal as you attend worship this morning. Here’s a labyrinth you can print out and trace.  Labyrinth Printable

• Practice your Searching and Creative skills with A Challenge to get from one heart to the other Maze

10:30 – 12 Youth Group:  

Grades 7th – 12: Building Your Spiritual Toolbox – what do we learn at UUBerks?  Where do we want our attention to be?  You help us get to decide. 

Monday – Thursday 

Weekly posts on our covenanted RE Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/UUBerks.RE.page/?ref=share
check out our Remind classroom.
If you need to signup link here: remind.com/join/refuucbc

November 4 we will be holding a Spooky Sanctuary Movie Night! Please join us in the Sanctuary from 6pm- 9pm. To celebrate both Halloween and Day of the Dead we will be viewing “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” and “Coco”. The church will be providing pizza, we ask that everyone please bring some drinks or snacks to share. Sign up below and more information to come as the evening draws closer.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B4DAEAE23A5FB6-44789653-spooky

With donations still arriving, First UU’s team raised $3127 for the annual Reading-Berks CROP Walk, from which a quarter of the profits stay local with the Berks Schuylkill Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank, which in turn benefits the monthly food pantry sponsored by our congregation.
 
First UU was a sponsor of the Reading-Berks walk, which was Sunday, Oct. 8, at Gring’s Mill along the Tulpehocken Creek.
 
Best of all, you can still donate to the team by going to the URL, https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2023/team/first-uu-berks-county

A huge thank you to all who contributed to the fall clothing drive to Hope Rescue Mission! Your gently recycled clothing supports our local community, and helps to fight homelessness for children, women and men in Reading.  Our church came through with a generous donation. A special thank you to Lauren Fritz for organizing and delivering all of the clothing.

Thanks again, and see you in 6 months for the spring clothing drive!

Registration is open now for our program year. We have some exciting things planned and look forward to what will emerge as we seek, nurture and serve together this year!

We know that family’s plans change from year to you – make sure you fill out this year’s info for you:

To let us know how you plan to engage with our programs this year please visit. https://uuberks.org/Registration

Registered families will receive occasional goodies and treats like invitations to events, seasonal updates on what we’re programming together this year.

Check out what’s in the works here. Our offerings depend on the congregation and on participating families to happen. If you want to be part of shaping programming or can lend a hand to help make them happen, please email Ebee: director.religious.education@uuberks.org. 

We will be holding a considering membership class on 11/12 following service. Come learn more about what our church community has to offer and how you can become a part of it. Contact g.membership@uuberks.org  to register or sign up on the gerber room bulletin board

Mike and I have been members since 2004. As we prepare to go to General Assembly for the first time, we are learning about our extended UUA family. Here are some nuggets of knowledge that Randy and Carol opened our eyes to: First UU is in the Central East Region (CER) and our primary contact is Lenore Bajare-Dukes (she/her).Sign up for their Opportunities for Connection monthly newsletter to learn about events and programs on https://www.uua.org/central-east/blog

UU JusticePA is our legislative lobbying group that fights for policies and structural change. Sign up for one of their Justice Teams and talk to Carol Orts about their monthly calls that empower you to make a lasting impact. https://uujusticepa.org/justice-teams/

The 8th Principle Learning Community is a Facebookgroup of committed folks across the country who continue to learn how to accountably dismantle systems of oppression. Ask Pat and Maggie about how it has fed their spiritual growth.

Finally, we have our own internal community bulletin board. If you’d like to share some news with fellow congregants about something fun, curious, for sale, or for discussion, you can send an email to g.friends.of@uuberks.org and receive a daily digest only when someone posts a message. Join our First UU Berks internal listserve by emailing a request to admin@uuberks.org.

Once you’re connected with one of these groups, please share your insight and involvement with our First UU Social Justice Coordinating Team at g.social.justice@uuberks.org.  We’ll connect you with others of similar interests!

The Helping Harvest Food Bank is held at our church on the 3rd Saturday of each month. To prepare, we need to set up a “store” in the Gerber Room with tables and shelves starting around 8:30 AM. We will receive a delivery truck from Helping Harvest around 9:30 AM, which contains hundreds of pounds of food that must be carried in from the street. We will unbox all of the items and place them on the tables and shelves in our store. Once the store is ready, we will guide families through it, one or two at a time, and assist them in selecting items that they can take home for free. Afterwards, we will break down all of the boxes and put away the tables and shelves.

We require many volunteers to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Currently, we are in need of more help. Would you be able to spare a few hours on Saturday morning to assist us? Typically, things are slow until the delivery truck arrives, so we could use more help with unloading, managing the different food areas in the “store” and cleaning up afterwards. Last month we were done before 12 noon. If you have any questions, please contact Frank W.

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.

Giant Card Form

These days, I approach the word “heritage” very carefully.  So many traditions and customs, when carefully inspected through our 21^st century lens do not hold up.  They were charming at one time, but only accessible to a privileged few.  As we see things through more of a global, multi-cultural, anti-racism lens that is more realistic to our lives now, the word “heritage” often signals that we will be reckoning with it rather than celebrating.

From the Oxford dictionary, heritage is “valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations.”  The entry uses it in the sentence, “a sense of history and heritage.”

Finding the parts of our heritage that we are proud to lift up, like using our GOD IS LOVE pulpit, is reconciled every week with heritage from our past that do not instill pride in us today.  When we know better, we do better.  When we pay respect to, and remember that Lenni Lenape people were here before us, when using pronouns to introduce ourselves so that more silenced people feel included, these are examples of continuing a heritage to be proud of, building in new patterns.

As we live our daily lives, independently and as a congregation, we are building a heritage of love.  Not by dismissing the parts of our heritage that we are ashamed of, or outgrew, but by placing ourselves into an age old pattern of looking to the past with honor and respect, not afraid to do new things.

Heritage is not just our past—we are always building on it.  May we continue to do the hard things, reconciling the great parts of heritage with the problematic parts.  It’s the way we have always done things around here.

In peace

Rev. Amy

by nadine j. smet-weiss

spiritual director

listen

closely

to the whisper

of your heart

re minding you

to re member

who you are

essential link

in a sacred chain

of being

blessed

to a blessing