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

Kareem Abdul Jabber is not just my favorite athlete. He grew up as I did, in New York City during the Civil Rights Era. The linked article, “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Where Is the Outrage Over Anti-Semitism in Sports and Hollywood?,” calls for a unique perspective about how we as human beings should interact with people of other cultures  if we want to reach and live in that world we dream of.
https://apple.news/AY6ySQiwDTuiMop4j0sZhMw (from the Hollywood Reporter)

If you have not yet fulfilled your 2019-20 pledge but still intend on doing, please mail your check to the church office with 2019-20 in the memo line. If you have been impacted my Covid 19 and would still like to pay your pledge at a later date, please contact Melissa to make arrangements. We understand that this has been a very difficult time for many of us and we are all working through this together .Thank you for your generosity in helping to keep our church up and running.

Join us on Monday August 3rd, @ 7:00pm when Jane Rohrbach will lead us in an exploration and reflection upon music as spiritual practice. 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.

UU Faith Lab This hybrid online, personalized and small group experience for high school aged Unitarian Universalist youth who’ve completed grades 9th-12th or the homeschooled equivalent will teach you how to discern your own gifts and how to build community with those gift through practicing and co-creating Unitarian Universalism in real time. UU Faith Lab Begins July 10th with an with an online community gathering around covenant. The program runs through July 31st.

for more info visit https://www.uua.org/youth/events/uu-faith-lab

CER Treehouse Program

Join the CER Youth Ministry Treehouse!

Your Central East staff, youth leaders and volunteer adults are working on a private social media space where CER youth can connect with each other this summer. There will be break out spaces like spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQ youth, chances to plan drop in programs like worship, game nights, social events, writing, art, and music sharing and more—whatever the community needs and can create together!  For more information visit

https://www.uua.org/central-east/youth/online-youth-programs/certreehouse

Thrive
Know a young person of color (who’s completed 9th-12th grade) who needs community and space to deepen their faith?There’s still time to sign up for Thrive!Direct them here (https://bit.ly/31BSXF8) to sign the participant form! From there, they’ll get access to the zoom links and our Mighty Network. (don’t forget Thrive is free this year)Want to know the schedule for Thrive this year? Email elizabeth.bromley@uuberks.org

I need a kidney donation for a kidney transplant. Because of my blood type and age, my wait for a compatible kidney from a deceased kidney donor is expected to be as long as 8 years. At the moment there are 100,000 people in the US waiting for a kidney donation.
I feel very uncomfortable asking for help, but my doctor recommended that I ask if anyone would be willing to donate a kidney? Kidney donations from live donors last up to 3 times longer than ones from deceased donations. So, ideally a live donor is the best. Having a donated kidney provides a much better quality of life than doing hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.

If you are interested in possibly donating a kidney, please contact the living donor team, the number is 215-662-6200. There is a frequently asked questions page on the living donor website https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/find-a-program-or-service/transplant-institute/living-donor-kidney-transplant. Even if we aren’t a match, if you’d be willing to donate to a kidney chain, many more people than just me could be helped. Thanks for your consideration. I really appreciate it.

In Love and Gratitutde,
Joan Bromley

The worship team is looking for a few more volunteers who can run the Sunday morning slides during worship. Volunteers are on duty once every 4 to 6 weeks. You will get training and rehearse with the worship team the week prior to the service you are supporting. Rehearsals are held Fridays from 5-6 pmYou will need familiarity and ease using Zoom and slides (we use Google Slides which are similar to PowerPoint) as well as a strong internet connection. If you are interested or have questions, please send a email to g.worship.tech@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

Are you experiencing financial or grocery needs? The church community can provide a box of dry-goods groceries on a Thursday for pick up at the church or grocery cards to shop at Giant or Weis. For assistance with these or other needs, please contact by email Rev.Dr. Sandra Fees or the church office. You may call the church office at 610-372-0928 or email office@uuberks.org

I first heard Kate and Justin Miner’s “Tomorrow” in the first days of UU wide collegial collaboration, in that mid March time when we were first trying to swim in this COVID shut down era.  I was grateful to Rev Teresa Soto for sharing the Persisters of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland singing this song.  It’s washed over me many times over the past few months.

Click here to take a listen to the 2020 General Assembly choir and instrumentalists Ring Out this Prayer https://uuberks.org/tomorrow

There will be better days…There will be better days…There will be better days…

Finding ourselves in this moment there are days where for our survival we will need to name

I AM ALREADY UNDER. LET THE WAVE WASH OVER ME

In the days after General Assembly – I’m starting to ask how I, how we can stay buoyant in this time of change and seismic shifts. How can I be ready for the better days?  Like the story of Elizabeth Cotton told at this year’s Music worship service.  We must create persistence.  If we focus on our areas of growth – we will keep going.  When we focus on the big picture – it doesn’t matter where we make music.  It matters that we make it.  What music can we make in these new environments – in these waters?

I look forward to us making music and persisting together.

For many normally this season is filled with summer blockbusters.  I love a good summer blockbuster.  A fantasy or sci-fi or good old Superhero tale helps me stretch my imagination – suspend my disbelief muscles – and dream.

Last week I attended the General Assembly of the UUA.  Lots of you came to Sunday morning worship at G.A. this year.  The week preceding was filled with our faith’s annual U.S.A. denomination gathering business. Something close to 5,000 Unitarian Universalists from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Philippines, and beyond came together over Zoom to vote on denominational concerns, to learn, to work together, and to worship.

In the days leading up to G.A. I was with my religious educator colleagues and I kept hearing one idea come up again and again.

We Can Not Achieve What We Can Not Imagine!

I’m reminded that so much of what a fantasy like Star Trek imagined 50 years ago is now in some part our everyday world (cell phones anyone?).  So in a world where many of us have “normal” suspended.  Let’s use this time to imagine!  What if we were building this world, this community, this life from the scratch?  What would you start with? Who would be in your community?  How would you work together? What could you learn? How could you play?

This summer – Let’s imagine together.