Sunday, May 26, 2024 - 10 a.m.

In-Person & ZOOM

“Why We Build Memorials”

Our country has been grappling with memorials—who should remain high on our pillars and who should be brought down. But what within us longs for memorials? Why do we want to valorize admired figures and build them into statues? Together, we will explore why we need to memorialize our heroes as well as why we need to grapple with our own less-than-heroic (and perhaps downright sinister) tendencies if we are going to be whole.

Join us for this special service with a Memorial Day theme presented by Ms. Rachel Evans. Rachel is part of Duke Divinity’s hybrid program and is also serving as a chaplain candidate and 2^nd Lieutenant in the Army Reserve. Join us as we gather together before summer travels begin and enjoy a special sermon to commemorate this holiday.

• Rachel Evans, Guest Speaker
• Annie Lavin, Service Leader
• Michael Casey, Musician
• Gerry Edwards, Greeter
• Vida Morley, Coffee Host

Please CLICK HERE for the link to join us via Zoom.

So You Don't Miss Anything!

• This Week's Worship Service Information
• Upcoming Summer Discussion Services Information
• Newsletter Index
• Helpful Links, Office Hours, Upcoming Events Calendar
• Minister's Column — Delmarva Pride Festival 2024
• Garrison Keillor & Friends Newsletter Excerpt
• Summer Office Hours Begin — June 1
• Gratitude Celebration Honoring Rev Sue — Tuesday, June 11
• Deadline for All FY 24 Pledge & Auction Payments, and Reimbursement & Payment Requests — June 19
• UUA General Assembly — Totally Virtual in 2024, June 20-23
• Summer Solstice Potluck at UUCR — Friday, June 21
• Undoing Racism Training Sessions — June 27 & 28
• Pastoral Care and Connection Committee
• Birthdays
• UUCR Contact Information
• End of Reflections Notice at the VERY END

Delmarva Pride Festival 2024

As I scan social media, it’s wonderful to see so many pictures of proms, graduations, and year-end celebrations at schools and community groups. It was fun to be at the Multicultural Festival earlier this month, and I look forward to other annual celebrations coming up in our congregations and the wider community.

I am particularly looking forward to the Delmarva Pride Street Festival on Saturday, June 15, from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. in Easton. Again this year, UUFE and UUCR will have a joint table at the festival with projects for children and information about our congregations.

It feels particularly important to be an active presence at the festival this year. At the national level, and, sadly, in pockets right here at the local level, the LGBTQ+ community is being targeted. During the tension of this election year, a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and policies are being proposed and, in some cases, enacted, which take away basic freedoms. These efforts to discriminate, exclude, and dehumanize those who are a part of the LBGTQ+ community are in direct opposition to our UU values of equity and inclusion.

Pride events are visible expressions of the full breadth of our community. Through festivals, we come to celebrate the many ways we live our lives. Pride festivals are a showing of love and a reminder that we all benefit when everyone is fully embraced. 

If you’d like to assist at the UUCR/UUFE table at the festival, please contact Mary Lou Malone through the UUFE office at uufe@goeaston.net.

In hope,

Rev. Sue

PS: Below are a few pictures I took at the Pride Festivals in 2022 and 2023. The energy and joy each year were palpable.

Losing my mind in New York and then finding it

The Column: 05.20.24

GARRISON KEILLOR

MAY 22, 2024

"And then around midnight a woman walked in, a civilian, no blue on her except her eyes. She was a Unitarian minister, making rounds, saw my name and remembered a column I wrote back in the Bush era saying what a terrible mistake the Iraq War was. My one good protest column and she remembered it all these years later. I told her I’m Episcopalian and that I’ve read Emerson and decided not to come forward. 'We never give up hope,' she said. 'This building, the George F. Baker Pavilion — he went to my church, so you’re one of us,' She was very funny. She said, 'We think of Episcopalians as people who write thank-you notes after orgies'.

'That’s high church; I’m low church.'

She said, 'Just don’t kick the bucket because if you die in the George F. Baker building, you go to a Unitarian paradise and that’s a series of committees planning paradise and designing the gates and deciding who all will speak at the dedication.' I said, 'You identify as Unitarian and you took the hormones but underneath you’re Episcopalian.' She reached down to pull up her skirt but she was wearing jeans.

She said, 'You’re quick. You ought to go into radio or something.' I said, 'God bless you.' She said, 'I’ll tell her you said so when I see her.'

And now I’m back home, feeling fine. Not a bad column for a demented man. Don’t send flowers. But be kind to any Unitarians you meet. Google 'Unitarian jokes' and keep one on hand. Every thirty or forty years there’s a new one but they love them all equally."

To read the full newsletter post CLICK HERE

— submitted by Philip Dutton

Beginning June 1, UUCR switches to summer office hours: closed Monday - Friday & open Saturday and Sunday 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

A Coffee Host is needed for Rev. Sue's last service with us on June 16^th. Please sign up on the sheet on the whiteboard. THANKS!

The deadline for all Fiscal Year 24 pledge & auction payments and reimbursement & payment requests is June 19 to allow time for processing prior to the end of the fiscal year,

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process.

GA will be held June 20th–23rd and is totally online this year.

The PROC Committee will host a special Summer Solstice Potluck at UUCR on Friday, June, 21, beginning at 6 p.m. Come to enjoy the fellowship and please bring a dish to share. Please contact John Ramsey johnramsey1948@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you can help with the set up and/or clean up. Thanks!

The Social Action for Racial Justice is sponsoring the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB)’s, two and a half day training.

This training will take place on June 27^th from 4-7pm, June 28^th, and June 29^th from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. PISAB's expectation is for all attendees to commit to ALL three sessions.

This event will be held at Minary’s Dream Alliance located at 9155 American Legion Road, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Food and childcare will be available at no cost. This is a free training.

If you would like to attend this event please complete the registration form: Undoing Racism Registration