Weekly Communicator

Weekly Communicator

June 15, 2023

Sunday Service

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am in the Sanctuary or via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/5264858673

Minister's Musings

We will be busy in worship this week as we touch on Intersectionality, Juneteenth, Father's Day, and our Welcoming Congregation renewal. Join us in person or by Zoom.

The following Sunday, June 25th there will NOT BE ANY SERVICE (in person or by Zoom). We invite you to join the service from the UU General Assembly. We also want to continue to acknowledge the amazing work of our Tech team and wish them a beautiful Sunday, OFF! Here is the link to watch the service it begins at 11:00am:

https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2023/sunday-worship

revsue@uucfm.org

WhatsApp call or message: +506 8891 2847

Facebook Messenger: Sue Gabrielson

Skype: suegabes

Please send all newsletter articles by

12pm Wednesday for publication in Thursday's newsletter.

Send articles to newsletter@uucfm.org

Newsletter articles should be limited to 250 words. Send artwork or photos in jpg format. If multiple posting dates are desired, please include that in your request.

**Please do not send requests to the office manager email**

Community Sharing for June

The SWFL RESET Center was founded in 2020 by UUCFM members and committed community activists seeking to be a positive force for change in SWFL. The RESET office is located on the UUCFM Campus. RESET contributes to the Community Gardens and will continue to partner with other organizations seeking to teach and practice regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and community leadership.

SWFL RESET Center offers ongoing free programs and online RESET Conversations educating the public about real solutions for Clean Water, and Environmental Justice in our bioregion. Check out our positive daily messaging called Earth Moments and help us spread the word by sharing, reflecting, and commenting on social media. Stay tuned for our upcoming programming called Being a Good Relative, a UUSC, UUFJ, RESET partnership about working with our Indigenous neighbors in the Everglades on Climate Justice.

If you cannot attend in person, you can still donate by mailing a check to the office with "community sharing" in the subject line, or by using the "donate" button on the website and marking it "community sharing".

Joys and Concerns

Bruce Leddy had a serious, emergency surgery to remove a mass in his brain last week. He is still in the ICU but is improving. Helen says that texts, emails and cards are fine but NO PHONE CALLS please. Please hold them in your hearts.

Helping Our Neighbors

Many local not-for-profit organizations align with our mission. If you’re aware of any such groups in need of meeting space, we may be able to offer our facilities for just the amount of whatever donations its participants offer. Advise the organization to contact Rev. Sue or Mary Studer to see if UUCFM can help.

Connections! ~ UU and You*

Sundays, June 18 & July 2 ~9:00-10:00 a.m. Room 2

June 18:

What do you want to retain from your past religious heritage?

What are you looking for from UUCFM and Unitarian Universalism in general?

July 2: (Note date change)

The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism & Sources

How to take our values out into the world!

Guided discussion with Marge Gonzalez, V.P. Membership.

Refreshments served ~ Sign up appreciated.

*All who are seeking community are welcome! Attendance at both sessions is optimal.

Richard Blanco

Audre Lorde

June Jordan

Poetry, Caribbean Americans, Pride, and Juneteenth

"Socially conscious poetry that actively responds to the most pressing concerns of our day." Richard Blanco, How to Love a Country

For Pride Month and Caribbean American Heritage Month, we are reading poetry by three Queer Caribbean American poets, who did respond to pressing concerns of their day. Although Audre Lorde and June Jordan are deceased, their work is as relevant as it ever was.

Richard Blanco, a Queer Cuban American poet, is currently the Poet Laureate of Miami-Dade in Florida. He was the Inaugural Poet at Obama's second inauguration. His inaugural poem "One Day" is available as a lovely picture book. Many of his current poems are drenched in pain, sadness, or loss. He is an outspoken opponent of banning and restricting access to books and poetry.

We will also recognize June 19, Juneteenth, with poetry written by George Moses Horton while he was still enslaved.

We will meet on Tuesday, June 20, from 1-3 pm, on Zoom. For more information and for links, contact Cat Pivetti.

Worship Service Sunday June 25

There will NOT BE a live service at UUCFM on Sunday, June 25.

Instead, please join us for the largest annual gathering of UUs joining in worship. This powerful, communal worship experience will stream on Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 11:00 am ET. Access the service at https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2023/sunday-worship.

The Office of the UUA President, the Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, is pleased to announce that the Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti, Senior Minister of the First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor, MI will lead the 2023 Sunday Service at GA.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti serves as Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is a co-editor of "Conversations with the Sacred: A Collection of Prayers" (2020) and the 2018-2019 UUA common read, "Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment." He has served extensively in Unitarian Universalist leadership, including as a member of the UUSC Board of Trustees; the UUA Board of Trustees; President of DRUUMM (our UU people of color organization, Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries); Commissioner on the UUA Commission on Appraisal; Secretary of the Board of Starr King School for the Ministry; and as an author and advocate of the 2007 General Assembly resolution confronting gender identity-related discrimination. He brings to the ministry his multicultural experience serving as a U.S. diplomat during the Clinton administration. Rev. Manish loves desert hiking and his amazing kids and husband.

Banned Book Project

21 of the 30 Books on the Banned Book List have been Returned and You can Borrow them During Coffee Hour

Here are comments from the members who donated these books:

The Fletcher Family Takes Rock Island

“A book that normalizes a family with two dads and two (out of four) kids of color. It has adventure and intrigue. Also love and struggle.”

Dear Martin

“This book does not shy away from tough subjects — affirmative action, racial profiling, and institutional racism. We badly need discussion of these topics. The young man is struggling with these issues and writes letters to Martin Luther King to sort out his feelings.”

Drama: A Graphic Novel

“It was a typical coming of age story. The only difference is that one of the male characters said he likes guys. It is so disappointing that this book was banned."

Our library keeps growing!

We have more books every week in our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Library!

Come check it out. This week in Hobart Hall, our DEI Library continues to celebrate the literature of Pride. This is a great chance to learn more about the experience of Queer, Trans, Intersex, and Gender Non-conforming people as our congregation works toward renewing our status as a Welcoming Congregation. This year Pride celebrations are clouded by a growing rhetoric of oppression, but Unitarian Universalists combat this through a culture of welcome and love instead of rejection and blame. More than ever, reading these stories, essays, histories, and poems is an act of engagement, of paying attention, of getting to know people instead of turning our backs, of love.

This is also Caribbean American Heritage Month and Immigrant Heritage Month, and Monday, June 19th, is Juneteenth. We have books that celebrate Caribbean Americans, Immigrants, and the African American and Indigenous people who suffered as slaves. Many of the books you'll see here are about people who belonged simultaneously to more than one of the groups we are recognizing this month, who lived with intersectional oppressions: Black Indians, Queer Latinx people, Transgender Caribbeans, and more and more. We have books for young children, for middle grades, for youth, for young adults, and for adults.

Some of these books have been banned in our state or others, and more of them may be soon. Our traditions have always honored a search for "the living truth." As members of our congregation continue to oppose attempts to prohibit access to learning, we protect the books that hold knowledge for us all.

May our hearts and minds be open, and may we be blessed with books.

Volunteer of the Month

Cat Pivetti is Volunteer of the Month. Her leadership in reinvigorating the library and in guiding the Welcoming Congregation Renewal process are heartfelt. She is committed to lifting up those marginalized in our society and is generous in sharing her expertise.