To help with Sunday morning hospitality, click here.

Abbreviated information about upcoming events that are further than two weeks out. Events that occur sooner may have a full article below.

• Choir Rehearsal - on summer hiatus
• Spirit of Life Reading Circle - on summer hiatus, to reconvene in September
• New Participant Meal - Nov 2, Feb 1, Apr 5 RSVP here
• Brown Bag Lunch with Rev. Sarah - Oct 8, Nov 12
• Congregational Conversation - Oct 6, Nov 3
• Read with Rev. Sarah - Oct 16 RSVP here
• VIP Public Action - Oct 24
• New Participant Classes - Oct 26, Dec 7, Mar 22, Jun 7 RSVP here
• VUU Retreat - Apr 11-13 at Friendly Pines Camp in Prescott

On September 21 I’ll be attending an ordination for a new UU colleague in Tucson, Jamili Omar. She has been working in Faith Formation with the UU congregations south of us, and will continue to do so as an ordained minister. I love going to these services; I get to see my UU colleagues, meet members at other UU congregations, and really be a participant in a UU service in a way that is hard for me to experience as a minister who is usually leading. These services also re-connect me with my own call to ministry, our shared UU values, and the beauty of this faith community at its best. 

About a week later I’ll be traveling to California to participate in a ministerial retreat with colleagues from the Pacific Southwest. There are two gatherings a year–one in CA and one in PHX–and these are important spaces of renewal, learning and collaboration for me as a minister where I also get to participate in worship led by and for my ministerial colleagues. UU’s need time to be together–so I hope you’ll consider joining the Creating Theology Together program organized across our smaller region that used to be a district. This collaborative class gives you a chance to also connect with a wider UU lens and to grow through relationships with each other. We are who we are because of our relationships with each other–new relationships bring opportunities for growth and transformation.  

Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan

VUU Opportunities

Volunteer at AZCEND’s Foodbank with Rev. Sarah

Hello! As part of my community service sentence from my civil disobedience arrest, I am putting some hours in at the AZCEND Foodbank on some Friday mornings this Fall. This is an opportunity to help AZCEND distribute food and meet our neighbors as well! It’s also a chance for some of us to spend time together. Care to join me? It will be fun and rewarding. Sign up here.

Volunteer with AZCEND’s IHELP Program at VUU

Over the course of the next few months, VUU is seeking a team of volunteers to manage the IHELP program at VUU. Several nights a month VUU is a host site for folks to receive a meal, a place to sleep overnight, a shower, and a lunch for the next day. A VUU team would help set up for the meal, greet guests and make sure things get cleaned up and put away. We are working on a job description for this work, but in the meantime you can come get a taste of what is involved by volunteering for some of the upcoming dates. September 23, 30; October 7, 15, 21, 28. These are evenings where we set up the meal at 5:30. Laura Rohlfing looks forward to training her replacements! Let her know you’re coming.  

Corazon AZ Press Conference regarding Proposition 314 at VUU September 17

Join us in the launch of the Corazon-AZ "Human Rights in the Pulpit Campaign- Vote No on Prop 314" Press Conference happening on Tuesday, September 17th at 10am at VUU. Faith leaders, including myself, will be speaking out against the draconian vision of Proposition 314 and its harmful impact on our communities. Corazon AZ leaders will remind us of the impact of SB 1070 and how this current proposition threatens to take us back to a time of targeting immigrants–our neighbors and friends–and deconstructing community life in ways that impact all of us. We need as many of you as possible to show up!  

As supporters of the immigrant rights yourselves, you know the importance of gathering to rally around a faith rooted message to help spread the word about the importance of faithfully voting NO on Prop 314 this November. Other faith communities will join us. Please kindly RSVP to let us know if you will join. RSVP to the September 17th Press Conference We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, September 17th between 9:30 and 9:50 in our Sanctuary so we can begin at 10:00. 

Coffee Shop Hours September

Join me on Wednesday September 18 in Gilbert at The Coffee Shop, 3000 E. Ray Road from 10 a.m. to 11:30. Let me know you’re coming! minister@vuu.org

Brown Bag Lunch September

I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with six members (all women!) who shared their passions, concerns, ideas for VUU community building and learning, as well as salsa and Navajo tea (thanks, Sheila Lopez!) Beatriz Arias, Sheila Lopez, Jody Freeman, Donna Long, Dianna Farmer, and Linda Stenholm were my lunch pals.  

EastVUU Social Night

When: Thursday, September 26, 6:00pm

Where: Pita Jungle

5609 E. McKellips Rd, Mesa

Invitation as our Theme: Inviting Change

An interim time is when we experiment and change things by invitation. Yes, I have been invited into your community to bring both experience and new eyes on how you do faith formation at Valley UU.Yes, change can be hard. But life IS change. 

Seasons, growing, aging, healing, learning. It’s all change. We UUs are a people who value the power of transformation. What is transformation if not change?

How do we know what to change and when to change? The same way we know when to learn and what to learn. Usually something happens. And this happening draws our need for attention. That can be a happy event; Look at those! We need to water and cultivate more of those so they thrive. Or it can be a less than happy event; Oh dear. Look at that visitor who is startled and uncomfortable. Let’s find out why.

It’s that last example that helped me realize we need to examine and learn about our bridge of love. 

This ritual was one that was once universally common in UU congregations. Oh. I almost typed churches. But that was a change. Years ago, many of us called ourselves churches. But then we learned that the word was less than welcoming to people who came to us from non-Christian faiths. From temples, shuls and mosques. So we changed and many of us became congregations. A word more inclusive than churches.

You see, there are some people, quite a lot actually, they have a problem being touched. The traumatized, the neurodiverse, the introverts. 

And all of them need us. We don’t want to startle them on their very first visit by placing our hands on their backs. So, over the last ten or more years, many Unitarian Universalist congregations replaced their bridge of love ritual with something different that was more welcoming to all people. This is why we are experimenting with a new ritual to sing our children to their classes. 

We will still send our children off with love. But without touching. They will still know we care deeply about them as members of our beloved community. And we will also remain open and welcoming to everyone who needs this beloved community.

-submitted by Sara Sautter

Page Turners Book Club Meets September 19

The Page Turners Book Club is open to all members, visitors, and friends of VUU who enjoy reading and discussing a variety of books. The next meeting is September 19 at 7:00 pm. We will meet at the home of Johnnie Godfrey in Tempe (near Baseline Rd. and the 101).  The book is The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs. See the book here.

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the hundreds of less-publicized rules. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal, and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

For the meeting address or questions, please contact Johnnie at 480-231-8381 or email Amy.

-Submitted by Amy Monahan

Paz de Cristo: A couple more volunteers needed this month!

Continuing the Tradition… Keeping the Commitment… Living our Principles

Date: Friday, September 13, 4:00-7:00 pm

Location: 424 W Broadway Rd, Mesa, AZ

Click here for the sign up link

Families welcome!

Please join us as we keep VUU’s 34-year tradition of serving the evening meal to Paz de Cristo guests on the second Friday of the month, September 13. Volunteers gather at the Paz kitchen/dining room from 4:00-7:00 pm to prepare several items for, and then serve, the evening meal. Additional tasks include cleanup of dishes, sweeping and mopping of floors. If you are joining us for the first time, don’t worry, Paz staff and experienced VUU volunteers make the work easy and fun and the evening goes fast.

Seventeen volunteers are needed for the evening and can range in age from 12 on up. Volunteers must be able to stand and participate in tasks during the entire evening. Have questions? Contact Joanne at 602-620-3100. Please sign up here for this rewarding experience.

-Submitted by Joanne McGrath

I-HELP Dinner - September 23

We are doing a nacho bar this month. Please bring ready-to-serve items to the VUU sanctuary between 5:00-5:30 pm. You may also bring labeled non perishable or cold items to the sanctuary kitchen on Sunday. Please read all instructions carefully. Feel free to contact Laura with any questions or comments. Thank you for your generosity!

Sign up here.

-submitted by Laura Rohlfing

Partners in Education (PIE)

Join our volunteers at Adams Elementary School, helping disadvantaged kids get an educational boost!

After School Tutoring: “Rumbo al Exito” Adams School has asked us to assist 75 students who are still learning English. Eighteen students are registered and participating now. We have been gathering and training on assessment tools, new curriculum materials, and student proficiency levels. We have recruited 10 student tutors from Westwood High School! If you don't speak Spanish, you can help with recruitment and fundraising. This is a huge need and SO important! This program may become a model for other schools. We need you and your friends in the community. Let's reach out to grow this essential service to these kids. For more information contact Randall Casillas. Photo shows Rumbo al Exito tutors working with English-language learners.

Classroom Instruction: Art Masterpiece Program

We are looking for volunteers to teach the Art Masterpiece program and Arts and Craft projects. LOTS OF FUN! You don't need any art experience, but must attend one district training class, offered next at these times:

Tuesday, November 5, 9:00-10:30 am

Tuesday, November 12, 7:00-8:30 pm

Thursday, November 14, 9:00-10:30 am

 Contact Adrienne O'Donnell.

-Submitted by Janice Miller