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Online Zoom ONLY Worship Service

A few weeks back we challenged the congregation to reflect on the question: "What do I want?" How are you making out with this question? At this service we'll hear some answers to this homework assignment. Join Rev. Sue Browning and other speakers for a morning of honesty around this question.

This will be a joint Zoom service of the Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Easton. Closed captioning is now available for Zoom worship services and meetings.

So we can begin the worship service promptly at 10 am, please sign into Zoom (click here) by no later than 9:50 am. A virtual coffee hour will immediately follow the service.

If not attending the service by Zoom, please submit "Joys and Concerns" and "Announcements" in advance by emailing them to the UUCR office (click here) by 9 pm Saturday.

Please come join us for a joint UUCR/UUFE Virtual Coffee Hour at 11:00 am, on Sunday, January 30 immediately following the worship service (continuation of the worship service's Zoom link).

Sunday, February 6 — Online Zoom ONLY

"What Do I Want?" is the question everyone is invited to answer this week. Feel free to answer in a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph or more, or through a drawing ... whatever you are moved to submit would be great. Please send responses by Friday, January 28 to my email (sue.browning2@gmail.com). 

I'm asking the question, "What do I want?" in the context of our theme for January, "Living with Intention." Buried in the related Soul Matters materials* this month was this statement: "It’s not easy to stay true to your deepest intentions. But often it’s even harder to figure out what they are." 

Reflecting on the question "What do I want?" is a chance to build on the references this month to Mallika Chopra's work on living with intent (Mallika Chopra TED Talk "Living with Intent") and on Bob Clegg's sermon this past week on a willingness for sacrifice and having clarity in a sense of purpose. 

*Our congregation subscribes to Soul Matters, a group that provides resources to UU congregations. 

Our Time is Now (published June 2020) is a comprehensive review of the election system by Stacey Abrams. We will have a UUCR/UUFE discussion of this book and opportunities to address voting rights on Sunday, Feb. 20 from 4 – 5:30 p.m. (on Zoom). The Zoom link will be provided closer to the date. The book is available in several formats (print copy, ebook, audiobook) at local libraries or for a reasonable price online. 

If you don't see "END of REFLECTIONS for January 27, 2022" at the very end of this email, you're not seeing the entire email. To view it to the end please Click here

Your stewardship committee is busy planning the upcoming pledge drive — your opportunity to support the good work of UUCR. Our kick-off Sunday service will be on February 20th at 10 am, with the theme of "Holding Our Center In Trying Times." We're so grateful to so many at UUCR who have helped us hold our center in these past two years. We have forged forward in the face of difficulties and learned to stay connected in new ways. More details about the pledge drive to follow in Reflections, your inbox, and your mailbox, as we get closer to the date.

Jackie Mathwich, Catherine Brooks, Joy Kim, and Peggy McKee

The Social Concerns/Social Justice Committee’s first outreach collection for this year was launched at our Sunday service on January 16th to benefit Rebuilding Together — a national organization whose work is carried out locally. This organization delivers critical home repairs in specific neighborhoods, engaging neighbors as partners.

Pam Vogel, one of our members, is both a volunteer and on the board of Rebuilding Together, Kent County. As Pam says in her moving segment (which you can listen to starting at 13:10 in the YouTube recording of the service here), “Almost all of the people that need Rebuilding Together’s services are elderly, many are veterans or people with disabilities. Often the repairs are serious and urgent — no running water, a non-working toilet or shower, leaking roofs, etc. These are people with a home, but find themselves in a circumstance where they cannot manage the repair.” This is where Rebuilding Together steps in.

But it’s not just individual houses. Working with other local non-profits, Rebuilding Together addresses the health and safety conditions of entire neighborhoods. Local affiliates who are rooted in the community work closely with community residents and leaders to revitalize our communities. The national organization is also positioned to address the long-term recovery of communities struck by natural disasters.

You can contribute by sending a check to the church office, made out to UUCR specifying "Rebuilding Together" in the memo line, or you can donate online at the church website using the "Donate" button (click here) and "Custom Amount," specifying "Rebuilding Together Outreach Collection" in the comment section. Any questions, please contact Marilee Taussig, Co-chair of the SC/SJ Committee at marileetaussig@gmail.com. Please make your donation by Friday, February 12th.

The committee thanks all members and friends for their very generous support of the outreach collections.

Marilee Taussig, marileetaussig@gmail.com Co-chair, SC/SJ Committee

The UUCR Committee on Ministry (COM) functions as a resource group for the minister, congregational members, and committees, focusing on the health of the congregation’s shared ministry. COM serves as an impartial observer of congregational life, helping UUCR function well and helping us live into our mission. We encourage healthy ways to communicate between individuals and across committees, the board, and the congregation. We respond to concerns and conflicts at any level within UUCR, as well as the processes for identifying and resolving them. COM is the committee that conducts regular assessments of the minister, performs evaluations of the overall ministries of UUCR, and provides feedback to the board.

We are a group of congregants that cares for our ministry to one another, particularly during these challenging times of Covid, when our communal ministry is looking and feeling so different. We are gathering and connecting in new ways, learning and changing as we move forward. COM members are here to listen, observe, and support as we experience new and old ways of creating community and our ministry together.

Please be in touch with one of us – Lynn Geisert, Annie Lavin, John Ramsey – if you would like to be heard, ask questions, or need support.

There’s a concept that has been introduced in a few newsletters/blogs that are out on the internet called "Gentle January." The idea is after the hectic holidays it is good to ease into the new year without putting too many expectations on yourself. Instead of making New Year's resolutions, consider how you would like to do things (anything) in the coming year.

This practice is a form of personal development. Looking ahead and giving yourself time to think through what could be, without judging yourself, creates an opportunity to be successful.

The Leadership Development Committee encourages you to think of all of the possibilities that can enhance your life. Our church community is one, have you thought through how much it means to you?

Very best, Amy, Diane, & M.Q.

For this second week of our 30 Days of Love, we are inviting you to deepen your connection to community, and strengthen your engagement in the movement to create the true democracy we have yet to realize in this nation. Within all of us lives the legacy of prophets, the wisdom of ancestors, and the fierce power of community to continue the momentum of not just the past two years, but the past 200+ years. There is so much we and those who came before us have accomplished to create a world where every vote counts and every life is treated as sacred. And there is still so much more that we can generate together.

Join us for Week Two of 30 Days of Love. From January 24-30 we are focusing on Democracy & Voting Rights. This week’s offerings include multigenerational resources, healing meditations, political education, and collective action to support our community in our democracy and electoral work. 

Join Interfaith Power & Light, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, the Maryland Campaign for Environmental Human Rights, and Earth Forum of Howard County to prepare your faith community for 2022 with an online legislative briefing This event is geared toward Maryland faith communities and congregations and is open to all. RSVP by clicking here and a webinar link will be sent to you.

Learn how your community can advocate for legislation that promotes clean air, clean water, and environmental justice. Participants will hear from issue experts about priority legislation, why it’s important for Maryland, and how, as people of faith, we can be advocates from a moral and religious perspective.

Gayle Folger, Nancy Holland, and Vida Morley

11 - Vida Morley

12 - Ralph Dolinger

13 - Melinda Lippincott

14 - Dianne Turpin

14 - Judy Graham

20 - Al Mathwich

22 - Clark Bjorke

29 - Zoe Panas

24 - Philip Dutton

25 - Les Palmer

27 - Laura Mitchell

We want to help celebrate your birthday! If we didn't include your birthday, please contact the UUCR office by email (click here).