Nov. 29 - Dec. 5, 2023

27th Annual Craft Faire

Friday, December 1, 9 am - 9 pm & Saturday, December 2, 9 am - 4 pm

It’s the most wonderful time of year at JUC! Shop for handmade crafts, jewelry, pottery, candles, art prints, stuffed critters, soaps and more all for a good cause. Twenty percent of sales benefit the ministries of JUC! Volunteer elves are needed. Sign Up Link

Christmas Eve Pageant actors needed

We need your little angels to help make our Children’s Christmas Eve Pageant happen as we retell the tale of a very special baby being born. There are two services for Children on Christmas Eve at 11 am and 1 pm. Email Laura Lizut if your child is interested.

Thursday, November 30

• Green Task Force: Easy to be Green - Big Incentives for Clean Energy, Electrification & EVs // 7 - 8:30 pm // Legislative analyst Jan Rose will cover all the incentives from Federal Inflation Reduction Act, the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), as well as Colorado’s additional incentives. Learn how to combine all these credits, incentives, discounts, and rebates to electrify your ride, your home, your business, and your community! Make a plan now to take full advantage in 2024 when those resources are highest and most easy to claim.

Friday, December 1

• First Friday Open Mic // 7 pm (performers arrive by 6:50 pm) // chapel // Join us for a special Craft Faire Open Mic. We will NOT have pizza this month and will hold our event in the chapel. Come and shop at the Craft Faire and then stay for open mic. Share a holiday song or story—or just be a happy audience member—we need you! Performers must arrive by 6:50 pm. During the show, wine, beer and soda are available for a modest donation, and there’s always chocolate! Contact: Sarah Billerbeck

Saturday, December 2

• Affinity Group: Creative Writers Circle // 10 am - 12 pm // 1st Saturdays // M1/2 (patio in good weather) // Whether you're beginning your writing journey or have written for years, the Creative Writers Circle is for you! Everyone is welcome to join our friendly, supportive group of folks eager to learn from, and laugh with, each other in a safe, nonjudgmental space. Not quite ready to share your work? Come anyway, we can't wait to get to know you! Sign Up Link Contact: Sharon Groten 

• UU Common Read // 1 - 4 pm // Join Rev. Wendy in a workshop based around this year's UU Common Read "On Repentance and Repair" by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. As relational beings, we need one another. As humans, we relate imperfectly. Few among us were taught how to genuinely apologize or heal a relationship. Certainly, public figures in our culture offer mostly regrettable examples. And yet, most of us have one or more relationships which need work. On Repentance and Repair offers a glimpse into one of our faith's foundational sources, Judaism. It invites readers to explore practices for accountability that can bring us into wholeness and really make a different in our personal, community, and national relationships. Sign Up Link

Sunday, December 3

• Abundant Harvest Table // 10 am and 12 pm // south commons // Nourish your body after worship each Sunday with healthy, delicious food lovingly prepared by fellow JUCers. Donations collected benefit Arvada Rising's Homeless Ministry. Volunteers are always needed to prepare food and staff the table. Sign Up Link



• Teen S’mores Social // 12:15 pm // patio // 6-12th graders please join us on the patio for some early winter fun. We will have s'mores, hot chocolate, games and music. Come and connect with your church friends and maybe meet some new ones!

• JUC Community Action Network (CAN) Meeting // 12:30 pm // 1st Sundays // M3/4 // JUC CAN is working on issues of affordable housing and the unsheltered with a racial justice lens. We also partner with Together Colorado in support of Colorado legislation. All are welcome to attend. Email [email protected] to receive updates about upcoming legislation.

• Affinity Group: Science & Spirit // 12:30 p.m. // 1st Sundays // R6/7 // Come join us for presentations and lively discussion on a wide variety of scientific topics. No specific scientific or technical background is required.

• Spiritual Practice Group: Mindfulness Meditation // 5 - 6:15 pm // Online // The Mindfulness Meditation group is meeting every Sunday to meditate together and discuss a mindfulness-related theme. Meeting Link Contact: Tina Voelker

Monday, December 4

• Reflections on Unlearning // 6:30 - 8 pm // online // Join Rev. Wendy, Rev. Jen and Sarah for an opportunity to reflect on the Unlearning Conversations and Indigenized services. What did you learn? What did you unlearn? Did you heed Kia's charge to speak up during your Thanksgiving celebration, how did that go? This discussion will happen online. Come with a willingness to share, to listen and to reflect. Meeting Link

Tuesday, December 5

• UU Liberal Christians Advent Service // 7 pm // chapel // For centuries, Advent has been a time in the dark of the year for reflection and anticipation. Its roots are in folk traditions and pagan rituals celebrating the miracle of light as a sign of rebirth and source of hope. Christians observe it as time of preparation during the four weeks before Christmas. All are welcome to this service with music, candle lighting and special readings, hosted by the UU Liberal Christians. Fellowship with refreshments will follow. UU Liberal Christians meet on first Tuesdays to discover progressive Christianity through discussion, book study, presentations and occasional worship. Contact: Karen Custer

Thursday, December 7

• WOMBATS Dads Group // 5:30 pm // offsite // The WOMBATS is the JUC Dads group. Our mission is to create a community of people who identify as dads to connect authentically. We gather every six weeks to share a meal and afterwards have a check in and explore a reading. All dads are welcome to join. If you would like to be added to the WOMBATS email list contact Laura Lizut. Contact: Erik Greensfelder

• Blue Christmas Service // 7 pm // chapel // Join your ministry team for our annual healing service. Silence, music and spoken word, offering space for those whose season is complicated by loss.

Saturday, December 9

• Nature's Keepers: Saturday Stargazing Field Trip // 5 - 8 pm // Nature's Keepers is an outdoor focused, extra-curricular Faith Exploration class for 8-12 year olds. Participants will experience a variety of outdoor activities, both off-site and on-site that will help them nurture their spiritual connection with the earth. Parent volunteers are also needed. Participants must be registered through our regular FE program. This month we will embark on a stargazing field trip. Location will be shared with those signed up to attend.  Sign Up Link Contact: Heather DeCaluwe 

• December Theme Thing: Theater Field Trip // 7:30 pm // 721 Santa Fe Dr, Denver // Explore the theme of mystery by attending a performance of "The Miracle at Tepayac" at Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center in Denver. This show features music, Aztec dancers and a story that overlays current issues of immigration and indigenous identities on the myth of the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in 16th century Mexico. The show is appropriate for people of all ages! Tickets are $12/person (JUC group rate) and, as always, let us know if you need help with the ticket cost. Sign up to take advantage of the JUC group rate or come on your own (at the door tickets are $20 per person). Sign Up Link

Sunday, December 10

• 4th/5th Grade OWL Parent/Child Orientation // 9 - 11 am // M3/4 // Our Whole Lives (OWL) helps young children identify their attitudes, values, and feelings about themselves, their sexuality, and others’ sexuality. Participants are guided by trained facilitators through an engaging curriculum that addresses age appropriate topics. The session runs from 1/7/24-3/17/24. All 4th/5th graders enrolled in OWL and their parents are required to attend this mandatory in-person orientation. Childcare available for siblings - please sign up by December 8. Sign Up Link

• I Heart Xmas // 6:30 pm // sanctuary // We'll sing Christmas songs and singalongs, and you'll get to practice holiday generosity by supporting high school students in Guatemala.

Tuesday, December 12

• We Are Parents (+kids!): Holiday R&R // 5:30 - 7:30 pm // 2nd Tuesdays // We will share a meal together, then the kids will go to childcare while parents participate in interactive and fun programming put together by Sarah and a member of the Family Ministry Team. Each month will focus on a different topic or lens with the aim of deepening our connection with each other. Sign Up Link

Thursday, December 21

• Winter Solstice Service // 6 pm // Welcome back the light with a family-friendly reimagined solstice celebration. We need hospitality helpers to make the evening a success. Sign Up Link

Sunday, December 24

• Christmas Eve at JUC // JUC is offering four services on Christmas Eve this year:
• 11 am & 1 pm - Family Services
• 5 pm - Contemporary Service with JUiCe Worship Band
• 7:30 pm - Traditional Service with JUC Choir

Holiday bakers, please bring your favorite cookies to share during social hour after the service. If you plan to attend please consider signing up to help create the warm and welcoming environment that JUC is known for, as we always host many guests at our Christmas Eve services. Sign Up Link

Shop BIPOC

• Gifts that Uplift.  If you want your gift giving this holiday season to help bring about racial and economic social justice in our communities, we encourage you to check out ShopBIPOC. This is a free, online directory of Colorado-based businesses owned by People of Color. You will find wonderful gift giving options for the holidays, as well as businesses ready to meet your year round needs. We are thrilled that ShopBIPOC exists and that it was built with our congregation and other values-aligned organizations and institutions in mind. Join the movement — ShopBIPOC! 

-- ONLINE MEETINGS USE PASSWORD JUC UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED --

Friday, December 1

• Indian Land Tenure Foundation Presentation // 7 pm // First Universalist Church of Denver (4101 E Hampden Ave, Denver) // First Universalist’s Racial Justice Task Force (RJTF) is hosting Cris Stainbrook, president of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF). Chris is Oglala Lakota and President of ILTF since its inception in 2002. He will give a brief history of the taking and loss of Indian lands which continues today. He will discuss the work of the Foundation in stemming these losses and regaining Native ownership, management, and control of 90 million acres of reservation land and sacred sites throughout the United States.

Friday, December 8

• Social Justice Film Series: Fracking the System // 6:30 pm // First Universalist Church of Denver (4101 E Hampden Ave, Denver) // A documentary of climate justice activism here in Colorado exposing the harms of fracking, the lengths to which the government is complacent with industrial pollution, and the nefarious tactics the oil and gas industry. Join us, the producer/director of the film, and representatives of 350Colorado and Safe & Healthy Colorado as we view the film and talk about a proposed ballot initiative in Colorado to phase out of fracking.