THIS SUNDAY'S
VIRTUAL WORSHIP SERVICE
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"Remaking Our Stories, Remaking Ourselves"
Guest Minister — Rev. Cynthia Snavely
UUCR & UUFE Zoom Worship Service
May 9, 2021
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Sometimes we need to expand or remake stories in order to grow into who we want to be. Robert Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess redefines what being a princess means. James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me expands the way many of us were taught American history. Stories like these help us define in new ways what it means to be female or American or .... At this service with guest minister Rev. Cynthia Snavely, we'll consider how examining who we want to be means examining the stories we tell, and sometimes remaking them.
Rev. Cynthia Snavely has served congregations in Warrington, PA; Charleston, WV; Columbia, MD; Bowie, MD; and New Bern, NC. She is currently living in Frederick, MD and being grandmother to four boys.
Join us by clicking the Zoom worship service link here on Sunday, May 9 before 10 am, immediately followed by UUCR & UUFE Coffee Hour. Please sign in by 9:50 am so we can begin the worship service promptly at 10 am.
If you have a joy or sorrow for the May 9 worship service, please share it during the discussion or if you're not planning to attend, email the UUCR office at UUCR email by Thursday, May 6 at noon.
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Come Join Us for Coffee Hour |
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Please come join us for UUCR & UUFE Coffee Hour at 11:00 am, on Sunday, May 9 immediately following the worship service (continuation of the worship service's Zoom link.)
It's a time to see and talk to one another, and the next best thing to being there!
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This Week's
Worship Service
Last Week's
Worship Service
UUCR
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May 9 - Mother's Day
May 9 - UUCR & UUFE Zoom Worship Service
May 16 - UUCR Worship Service - details forthcoming
May 31 - Memorial Day
Jun 13 - Annual Congregation Meeting
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If you know of another link or event that should be added, please contact
the UUCR office by email or phone 410-778-3440. Thanks!
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Anticipating Travel
Bill and I are about to head out on a two-week road trip. Our destination is a wedding in Colorado.
We’ve taken plenty of driving vacations during our marriage, so much of the planning is familiar. We’re reading ahead about sites and parks. We’ve got lists of what to pack. Friends are offering suggestions. I love anticipating adventures!
Yet parts of planning for this trip are different. We’re traveling during (what we hope) is the tail end of a pandemic. We haven’t stayed in a hotel, eaten in a restaurant, or seen our extended family in over a year. We have never attended a wedding where masks are required as you move from table to table.
As we plan, we talk of risks. When we were thrown into lockdown last year, we had few choices. Now we have many. Where will we feel comfortable eating? What will vary by state? We're vaccinated and feel protected, but it still feels there is much to consider. Might we transmit the virus to others as we move from place to place? What of our time with great nieces and great nephews, all too young to be vaccinated?
As we venture out on this "first trip" we do have tentative plans for eating, sleeping, and visiting. We remind one another we’ll need to be practical and flexible. And we need to be "ok" having fun, even if that too feels a little weird after the past year. (I have faith we will!)
These will be among our questions of risk and return that we'll need to ask as a society over the next year. We'll need to plan as information continually changes and as we see worldwide images of profound struggle with the virus.
It feels important to start traveling again. And it feels different than in the past. We’re oddly new at this.
Reports from the trip will be coming shortly!
In connection,
Rev. Sue
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Sue's Vacation
Sue will be on vacation May 7-23. If there are matters needing attention, please check with Board President, David Biehler (click here); Office Administrator, Darlene Wiggers (UUCR office email or office phone 410-778-3440); Caring/Pastoral team (contacts at end of this email) or other leaders. Sue will be available in case of an emergency.
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If you don't see "END of REFLECTIONS for MAY 5, 2021" at the very end of this email, you're not seeing the entire email . To view it to the end please Click here
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Many thanks to Penny McCrea for this photo. |
To see other photos of what you missed at the Merry Month of May celebration, go to the "UUCR Forum" Facebook group (click here) . This is a private Facebook group for UUCR members and friends and you will need to join (or already be a member of) the group to see the posts. If you have any photos you'd like to share from this event or the Sock Burning, please send them to John Ramsey at [email protected].
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Social Concerns/Social Justice |
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Imagination Library Outreach Collection
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"The Gift that Speaks Volumes for our Community's Future."
We are happy to announce our newest Outreach Collection, Imagination Library, which will run through the month of May. I hope that many of you were able to see the video presentation by Rosie Ramsey Granillo, director of the Local Management Board, which manages the program with partners — the Kent Family Center, the Judy Center, and the Kent Public Library. Started in 1995 in Tennessee by vocal artist and philanthropist Dolly Parton, this program sends bi-lingual books once a month to any child, birth to five years, through the mail, regardless of income, to prepare them for school. Started here in 2014, 450 children are currently signed up (57% of eligible children in Kent County), with 439 graduates to date. Your donation will help sustain this program. You can donate through the donate button on the UUCR website by writing "Imagination Library Outreach Collection" in the comment section. You can also send a check to the church. We hope that you will continue your generosity by considering a contribution to this successful and valuable program in Kent County. You can also find more information on the Imagination Library website (click here).
Thank you from Lynn Dolinger on behalf of the Social Concerns Social Justice Committee.
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You are cordially invited to participate virtually in, |
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JUSTICE DAY
In Pursuit of Racial Equity
in Chestertown, MD
MAY 15th, 2021 3-4:45 PM ET
To listen and/reflect on our shared histories of racial inequality and terror with the purpose of reconciliation,
justice and equity for all, hosted by
the James Taylor Justice Coalition of Sumner Hall
via Zoom ( click here) and live Facebook streaming. No registration needed.
Event Speakers:
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Sherrilyn A. Ifill, is the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. She is also the author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century.
Nowhere is the challenge of confronting the past greater than in those [Eastern] Shore [of Maryland] counties where lynching occurred. Sherrilyn A. Ifill
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Savannah Shepherd, an 18-year-old college freshman and social justice activist. She led a process working closely with the Equal Justice Initiative and the State of Delaware to create a Social Justice Remembrance Coalition (DSJRC), to acknowledge past incidents of racial terror in order to raise awareness today.
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Other speakers include Larry Wilson, President of Sumner Hall and Co-Chair of the JTJC who will provide an overview of the vision and mission of the James Taylor Justice Coalition. Ruth Shoge, First Vice President of Sumner Hall, will introduce the 2021 JTJC EJI High School Essay Contest for Kent County. John Queen, Co-Founder and President of Bayside HOYAS and Chairman of the Black Union of Kent County, will kick-off a summer book club reading of Sherrilyn A. Ifill’s book On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century.
Four thousand, seven hundred and forty-three (4,743) lynchings occurred in the United States of America between 1882 and 1968. James Taylor, an African American, was lynched in Chestertown, Maryland in 1892, steps from the courthouse lawn.
The James Taylor Justice Coalition (JTJC) has a singular focus and a defined mission. Aligned with the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) Community Remembrance Projects, to shine the light of truth upon the lynchings that occurred in the U.S. Only by telling the unvarnished truth about our past can we begin to address the injustices that continue against people of color in the U.S. today. Our goal is that, armed with truth about the
past and knowledge of the present, the people of Kent County and the Eastern Shore of Maryland will seek to undertake the changes in our society necessary to insure justice and equality for all.
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Pastoral Care and Connection |
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We are here for you! We will focus on staying directly connected with our members and friends, especially those who may need assistance or support. The caring teams from our congregation is staying in touch, but if you need to reach out, please be in touch with any of the contacts below to stay connected (and see additional contacts below for RE families).
Please know your congregation is here. We can help you find connections. Please don't hesitate to reach out and let us know what is helpful for you in this time.
Rev. Sue Browning, and the Pastoral Care Associates: Kevin Brien,
Gayle Folger, Nancy Holland, and Vida Morley
or for more information, contact:
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MAY BIRTHDAYS
9 - Lynn Dolinger
10 - Tom Lippincott
14 - Rachel Perry
18 - Nancy Holland
27 - Harry Hart
28 - Betty Kerr
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We want to help celebrate your birthday! If we didn't include your birthday, please contact Darlene at UUCR office email
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Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River 914 Gateway Drive, Chestertown, MD 21620
Phone: (410) 778-3440
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END of REFLECTIONS for MAY 5, 2021
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