Tonight – FRIDAY

7:00 PM:

• From SoulMatters: “Here’s a story that explores and celebrates the beauty and value of spirals. What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful? Why does that shape occur in nature over and over again—in rushing rivers, in a flower bud, even inside your ear? . Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman  Berks County Library Catalog – Many In for borrowing! .  Video Link.

SUNDAY

9:45 AM :Adult RE 

• In Person: in 1st floor chalice house with Cindy Dimovitz & Be Young

• Nurturing the Beauty of Helping Our Community we will gather for a time of reflection and community centered around helping our community. [soulful home packet]

• Onsite Only 

9:45 AM: Children’s RE  

Elementary Ages:  Onsite and Online, email director.religious.education@uuberks.org by Saturday noon if you’ll be attending online

• On site: in Kidspace (* teens may help, let us know you’ll be coming), Online available.  With Ms Jayné Park Martinez & Ms Erin

• RE Hangout – Honoring All the Ways We Take Beauty In – a meditation on beauty and continuing to craft for celebrations later this month. 

• ** this week and next we’ll be preparing to celebrate Rev Sandra in her upcoming retirement.  These two weeks are not to be missed! 

•  link sent via Remind 1 hour before class.  If you need access please email Ebee (director.religious.education@uuberks.org)

10:30- Worship Service- All Ages

• We build bridges and honor everyone’s unique ways they show up. 

• Coloring Sheet: “Kintsugi Mandala Coloring Page”

• 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 Spark Maze

Monday – Thursday 
Daily posts on our new 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

The Spring Congregational Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 11:45  am following the service to be held in the Sanctuary and via Zoom and phone. These semi-annual meetings of the congregation are required by our Bylaws, but they are also an opportunity for you to become informed about the work that your fellow congregants are involved in and for your voice to be heard. We hope to ‘see’ you there!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of two dear church members. Gene Fizz passed away on April 28th at the age of 88. Gene was a member of the church for 14 years. He was a cherished member of the choir until the pandemic struck. A celebration of life service for Gene will be held at our church on June 23^rd at 2:30 PM with a reception to follow. Gene’s obituary can be read here

Jeff Woodward, husband of Ann Myers, passed away earlier this week. Ann and Jeff have been members of the church since 2005. Jeff served on the board and was active in stewardship efforts A celebration of life service is planned for June 4^th at our church at 11 AM with a reception to follow.
Jeff’s obituary can be read here

Please join Shut Down Berks Interfaith Witness and the Shut Down Berks Coalition for our monthly action on:
Sunday, May 22 at 3:30 pm (right after the church picnic!) at the Berks Detention Center
1040 Berks Road Leesport, PA 19533

led by Rev. Sandy Strauss, Pennsylvania Council of Churches

There are currently no women or other individuals incarcerated at Berks (which could change at any time) so this month’s action will include a call to shut down the Berks center permanently and will also be a Solidarity Vigil with the immigrants incarcerated at the Moshannon Valley Detention Center in Pennsylvania. 

Amber and Nate Brown will be hosting to the next UU Parent and Caregiver Pot luck dinner at their home located at 614 Jefferson St in West Lawn on Friday May 27th from 6-8pm. Bring a lawn chair for a campfire and smores. Please invite anyone who might be interested or new to the church, and let Amber know what dish you will be bringing. Everyone welcome!

Call or text any questions to Amber at 484-336-0990 or Nate at 484-336-0990.

New to the UU Parent and Caregiver group? This group is a supportive forum for discussing raising UU kids and socializing with other UU Parents and caregivers. We rotate as hosts and have a potluck dinner and discussion on Friday or Saturday nights from 6:00-8:00. Any members or friends of FUUBC and their children are welcome!

Find out about our events by joining our Facebook group: UU Parenting Group – First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berks County or reaching out to one of our group administrators (Amber Brown, Lynn O’Brien or Rachel Liberatore) 

We have set Sunday June 5 for Johnathan Newnham’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  You are all invited!  Please RSVP at this link, which John set up: www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4ba4ab2ba6fece9-johnathan2 Time will be 12:30 to 2 pm, with ceremony followed by lunch. The event will be held at our own First Unitarian Universalist Church.  This is where John did his Eagle project, so you can all see his work!

If you have questions you can email Randy Newnham at ren2@psu.edu or call 610-370-2175.

We are looking for delegates to represent UU Berks at General Assembly. Attendance can be virtual or in person. Funds are available to cover registration for members who wish to serve as delegates. For more information, go to www.uua.org/ga.
If interested in serving as a UU Berks Delegate (to vote on denominational decisions), please contact the UU Berks Board at g.board@uuberks.org or Rev. Sandra at minister@uuberks.org.
To register visit https://www.uua.org/ga/registration

We have a new coordinator for the FUUBC monthly food pantry! As previously announced, Brian Kammerer needed to step down from this position, and Mark Burton has stepped up to fill the role! Mark has been volunteering for a few months and has already been preparing to lead May’s distribution day.  Thank you Brian for your years of service in this capacity – you will be very missed! 

With this change in leadership, we also need more volunteers to help on distribution day, which takes place on the first Thursday morning of every month at the parking lot located on 5th and Cherry streets from approximately 9am-1pm. The next one will take place on Thursday, May 5th (next week).
This is a great opportunity to help in our community and engage with people from diverse backgrounds!

Tasks include:

• food setup
• registration and communication with recipients (Spanish fluency would be helpful)
• distribution of food
• clean up

Training will be provided. Contact Mark Burton at selliott42@comcast.net with questions or to volunteer

Join us on Sunday, May 22nd at 12 noon for a picnic to celebrate Rev Dr Sandra Fees Retirement (and the Service Auction Basket Raffle). We will be gathering at the Farming Ridge Park – Pavilion in Exeter at 6075 Farming Ridge Blvd Reading, PA 19606.

The church will provide hamburgers/hotdogs/veggie burgers with all the fixings. We are asking everyone else to bring something to share.  Please let everyone know in the rsvp below on what you are planning to bring, so we don’t have too many duplicates.

If you are planning to attend, please sign up here by Friday, May 15 at 6PM.

Questions, contact Frank & Lisa Wilder at bfls.wilder@gmail.com ;(or by phone at 484-897-0234)

CELEBRATING REV. DR. SANDRA FEES RETIREMENT

CHURCH PICNIC

Sunday, May 22, 12-3 pm

Festive party at the Farming Ridge Park in Exeter. This will be a time to gather outside together, share in a potluck lunch, and celebrate Rev Sandra as she prepares for retirement. Watch the Univoice for more information.

WORSHIP SERVICE 

CELEBRATING OUR SHARED MINISTRY

Sunday, June 12, 10:30 am

This service will include Rev. Sandra’s farewell sermon 

and a special video.

WORSHIP SERVICE

SUNDAE SUNDAY

Sunday, June 19, 10:30 am

This Sunday will be Rev. Sandra’s last service with us. Join in this fun, interactive service followed by an ice cream social.

FAREWELL MEETINGS WITH REV. SANDRA

by appointment
sign up here

Members and friends who would like to meet with Rev. Sandra in person, by phone or on zoom may sign up for one of these times (or contact Rev. Fees to find another time):

Tuesday, May 24 – 2 pm, 3 pm

Wednesday, May 25 – 2 pm, 3 pm, 7 pm

Thursday, May 26 – 11 am, 1 pm

Wednesday, June 1 – 3 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm

Thursday, June 2 – 1 pm, 2 pm, 7 pm

Tuesday, June 7 – 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm

Friday, June 10 – 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm

Tuesday, June 14 – 11 am, 1 pm, 7 pm

Family Promise will be having their 3rd Annual Promise Walk June 5 from 1-5pm @ the West Reading Playground.  Please save the date and consider joining the UU team to help fundraise for FP of Berks County. Food Trucks will be their to serve food , raffle baskets and entertainment provided. Join FP for an afternoon of fundraising and Fun.

Registration $25 per person , you can join us in person or virtually.

Use the link below to register – go under – I Want to Fundraise and find UU team or contact Cyndi Dimovitz @ 610-334-8309 or cdimovitz@gmail.com if you need help registering. 

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/family-promise-of-berks-county-inc/3rd-annual-promise-walk-7acba014-9543-4854-9844-c73f0fc9b650

Mark your calendars for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading’s PRIDE FEST on July 17th, 2022. Come out and show your support for our LGBTQ Community with a day full of music, vendors, food and FUN! We will be asking for volunteers to staff the FUUBC table as the date gets closer. Please consider helping out.

• Free parking is available on Sundays on the street and in the library parking lot.
• The parking garage across the street (4th and Cherry streets) has changed to a pay by app system. The app is called ParkMobile. It can be downloaded in the apple store or on the google play app. At this time we are unable  to offer discounted parking vouchers.

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.

Rev. Dr. Sandra Fees, April 2022

You tell me to live each day / as if it were my last. / But why the last? I ask. Why not / live each day as if it were the first— / all raw astonishment, Eve rubbing / her eyes awake that first morning, / the sun coming up / like an ingénue in the east?

~ Linda Pastan, Imaginary Conversation

What would it be like to live each day as if it were the first? This is a question I am sitting with these days. I envision retirement as a vital time to reawaken to that raw astonishment. I don’t see it as a time to live as though each day is my last.

I look forward to more unstructured time and also more time to be curious about the question “who am I now?” I will still be a minister. I will still participate in clergy groups and UU circles. Very likely I will preach from time to time and perhaps occasionally officiate at rites of passage for friends and family. But my role will be changing. I will no longer be a congregational minister. I will no longer be your settled minister. I will be awakening to something new.

And I wonder, what would it be like for you to live each day as if it were the first? What would you be awakening to? What choices might you make for yourself to bring that vision a little closer to being a reality?

With love,

Rev. Sandra

I love a good meme and this one is a classic at this point… “I was today years old when…”

Often these realizations feel like a jolt, an awakening to something new to me. They often feel like a paradigm shift – a big Eureka moment – the way I was doing something isn’t the way it has to be! Or – I never knew that!

I love the enthusiasm behind a lot of these posts. To celebrate awakening to something new can be a great way to live into experimentation and play. Another way to put this is “I was today years old when…” captures one way to draw from our first of six UU sources “the sense of wonder we all share.”

What understanding did you wake up to lately?

by nadine j. smet-weiss

spiritual director

now 

is the season

to come alive

awaken

to the power

of the light

you bear

embody 

the gifts

that are

yours

to give

open your arms

to receive

what others

live to share

now is the season

to come alive

awaken to

the love

you are