Dear friends,
A Zen Parable:
A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.”
In this season of gratitude, I see your generous heart, your giving spirit, your trust that you can answer the needs of others and still be "just fine."
Who have you helped recently? What is it in us that allows us to live as generous souls? I promise you that, if you find a way to make the world a better place, your life will be richly blessed in ways you could not have imagined!
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This Sunday is a special one. We will gather at 3:30 pm, rather than at our normal morning time. Join us for our second gathering with the HPCUU community around special holiday traditions. Last month, High Plains joined us, this time Unity will be joining High Plains for their fabulous annual "Bread Communion"!
Please arrive, in the zoom room, on time. (Use the High Plains link, not the Unity link. See below this paragraph.) We encourage you to bring breads and yummy baked good to the service to imbibe as part of the blessing.
We also be created a recipe book to share with one another, of our favorite holiday recipes (see link below). Come enhance our practice of gratitude with our extended family of choice!
To join the High Plains service via Zoom:
Meeting ID: 7192601080, Password: 25Years! (Password is case sensitive)
I look forward to seeing your smiling faces!
Rev. Ahriana
PS — Make sure you scroll down to see how you can donate
and help others this holiday season.
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Thanksgiving Week...
This Sunday
November 22nd at 3:30 pm
Bread Blessing Service
This service will be held through High Plains Zoom: link
Meeting ID: 7192601080
Password: 25Years!
(Password is case sensitive)
We will be joining High Plains Church Unitarian Universalist for a joint bread blessing service to welcome in the week of Thanksgiving.
No service will be held at 10am through Unity's Zoom link.
Thank you to everyone who submitted recipes! We have the first version of the cookbook done! Thank you to Jan Clover, Rhonda Johnson and team from High Plains for putting this together.
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Zoom together this Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 26th at 2pm
Hosted by Crys
Can't physically be with family this Thanksgiving? Don't be alone, bring your meal and join other Unity members, High Plains Church Unitarian Universalist members and/or your families for a joint Thanksgiving dinner via Zoom!
Crys will host the meeting and place everyone in the requested rooms "tables" Please note there are no time constraints and the meeting will be left open as long as people are enjoying their time.
View available "tables" here.
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Find some peace/purpose... |
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Soul-Search
If you Zoom'ed in (or had the chance to listen to last Sunday's service), you heard Rev. Ahriana speak about "Soul-Searching". Her reflection was about how to turn this time of Solitude and Separation into a Spiritual Adventure! She spoke about how we can take some time each day to meditate/explore things in our lives and find special meaning. If you missed it, but would like to hear it, go to: SOUL SEARCHING.
If you'd like daily inspirations from Ahriana, you can join her on a special Facebook page: Soul-Search.
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Need some calm an peace during your day? Experience these mini meditations for busy people from optimistic meditator Tammy Lorraine. Guided meditations help you reduce anxiety and tap into your potential during your day. Plus vegan Thanksgiving recipes, proof of heaven, inspired gifts… and more. Click: Om & Go
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We offer a number of weekly and monthly classes/talks.
For more specific details and Zoom links, please click on class title.
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Tuesdays 6-7pm
7:30-8:30pm
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Bodhi Mind Center Mediation
Tuesdays 5:30 pm
Saturdays 9:00 am
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2nd & 4th Saturdays
Next meeting: Nov. 28th
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2nd & 4th Saturdays
Next meeting: Nov. 28th
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Thank you for your continued support of Westside Cares!
And A BIG thank you from Westside CARES for the $535 donated
for the Thanksgiving Gift Card Program!
Your generosity will bring big smiles to families this Thanksgiving
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Westside CARES Clothing Closet is OPEN.
Westside is also in need of clothing items...
NO socks are needed right now (they have had a huge donation).
•Practical shoes/boots are needed, especially the larger sizes and men's shoes.
•Women's panties and men's briefs (they are well stocked on bras).
•Coats, especially the larger size •Hats/Gloves
Other Items:
•Wet wipes for personal care needs.
•Snack Bags (they are giving out 150 to 200 per week).
Donate on Thursdays from 9:30 to noon at Westside CARES
(2808 West Colorado Avenue — dock is off the alley).
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Christmas Adopt-a-Family Adopters
The Westside CARES Christmas Adopt-a-Family Program matches families in need of holiday help with adopters from around our community. With all the challenges facing families this year, your help is more critical than ever. While this program is not designed to satisfy every wish and need of the 60+ participating families, it will go a long way toward easing
the anxiety parents feel when their budgets just won’t stretch far enough to accommodate holiday spending. As parents, we all want to see our children’s eyes light up on Christmas morning. For many struggling to make ends meet, this joy becomes an often-unattainable luxury.
Our 2020 program will ask adopters to provide only gift cards to families this year and consider dropping them to parents at a neutral location or through the mail.
If you’d like more information go to: adopt, or if you would like to sign up to be an adopter in this year’s program, contact Deb Mitguard at [email protected] before Thanksgiving.
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Gambellan Refugee Camp
Memorial Feast
December 13, 2020 marks seventeen years since the brutal massacre of 424 Indigenous Anuak men and boys in Gambella, Ethiopia by Ethiopian national forces and armed militia. The Anuak people have long been persecuted in Southern Ethiopia, and recently have been forcibly evicted from their homelands to make way for translational agriculture companies. More than 1500 Anuaks were killed in the two years following this massacre. For this reason, refugees from Gambella, who are now in refugee camps in Uganda, gather on the December 13th to honor those who were lost — as well as the losses they suffered. This is an important day of feasting, remembering, and gathering together and it brings them comfort.
In past years, our community has sponsored this feast, with the help of the Christmas Tree Project and Centers for Spiritual Living. We would like to sponsor this feast again in 2020. The refugee camp we support has suffered this year with less food and resources due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Let us gift them some hope and remind them that there are loving, caring people in the world.
To make a contribution to this effort. You can do that using the donate button at UnityRockies.org. Instructions are as follows:
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Please go to the " Donate" page on the the Unity website. Scroll to the bottom where there's a"Make a donation" button. There will be a pop-up menu that gives you a few donation options, including "Give to Refugees".
Thank you so much for helping them out!
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Another way you can help this holiday season is to support The Christmas Tree Project. Looking for more real Christmas spirit in the world? Join us in helping children and families celebrate this holiday season with the timeless tradition of a Christmas tree.
The Christmas Tree Project is the place where you can fire the imaginations of adults and children alike by gifting them a fully decorated Christmas tree. Together, with your help and love, we will make Christmas dreams come true for a child this year… by gifting them a Christmas tree through the Christmas Tree Project. So far TCTP has OVER 22,000 requests from around the US and around the world! Covid has made this even more important to help out!
As in the past, we will need a few elves (volunteers) to help set up and distribute trees this year. Everything will be done outside and in a socially distanced and masked way.
Setup day is Dec 5th from 9am-2pm, the Giveaway is Dec 12th, 8am-2pm. They have a comprehensive Covid plan and part of that plan is making sure they communicate with volunteers to schedule time in order to assure they have enough — but not too many volunteers — at any one time.
To make this happen we need EVERY volunteer to sign up on the volunteer signup page: VOLUNTEER, so they can schedule appropriately and then communicate with the volunteers.
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Donation Options
To support your Unity Spiritual Center, click the "Donate with PayPal" button to the left or the "Donate Now" button below to be directed to our donation page on our website.
PayPal: Log into your PayPal account then click on the "Send and Request" button located at the top of the page. Type the email [email protected] in the search bar it should show "Unity Church in the Rockies."
Make sure you select the "sending to a friend" option to avoid any fees.
Text to Give information: Text the amount you would like to give to 719-888-3423, you will be prompted to enter your payment information the first time. Through this you do have the ability to set up reoccurring payments by adding the word weekly, bimonthly, or monthly after the amount if you so choose to do so.
Mail a check: Unity, 1945 Mesa Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Call Crys in the office at 719-471-4556 to donate over the phone
or if you have any questions about any of the above options.
Your donations are appreciated more than ever!
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Through the Holidays, you can really help us raise funds for Unity at no cost to you!
King Soopers/ Kroger has changed some procedures for the community rewards program (SCRIP),that will make it easier for you to participate! 5% of every purchase you make will be donated back to our community if you just go in and register. Please use this link: SCRIP!
During the holiday season, when we shop a little differently, this really makes a difference for us! Thank you, in advance, for registering!
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Please note: Unfortunately, we do not have any Natural Grocers or Safeway cards currently available.
Thanks, The Unity SCRIP Team
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Minister's hours
Both Rev.Ahriana and Rev.Julie are available for virtual counseling sessions by appointment. To schedule counseling, please call or email our office.
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Unity Administration Hours
Crys is available by phone or email
Tuesday 9-5 • Wednesday 9-5 • Thursday 9-12 noon
Office Phone: 719-471-4556
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It's important to stay connected during these times! If you are a member of Unity Spiritual Center of the Rockies community and are not a part of our online directory, or have signed up and need assistance accessing it please contact Crys 719-471-4556, email: [email protected]
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