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Weekly News
August 5, 2021
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Beloved Community,
The UUCFM Board of Trustees, lay ministers, and staff are constantly monitoring the latest developments and recommendations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and variants.
In an abundance of caution, we have decided to postpone the in-person aspect of the worship services planned for August 1st and 8th. After these services, we will update you on our in-person worship plan.
We were so looking forward to being together again in-person but your safety is more important at this time. If you want to discuss further, feel free to email or call Board of Trustees President, Lane Cook, at UUCFMPresident@UUCFM.org, or 239-222-9406.
Yours in Growth,
Lane Cook
President
UUCFM BOT
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A NOTE FROM THE OFFICE:
The office of UUCFM will be staffed from 9a-12 noo on Tuesdays through Thursdays for the month of August.
The office will be closed on Mondays (as usual)
and Fridays.
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Our Sunday Service on Zoom - 8/8
Water Communion
The theme of our Service this week is “Hope in Uncertain Times," and is also our Annual Water Communion Service. These are challenging and uncertain times. What do we hope for during these times? How do we keep our sense of optimism and joy during a difficult, challenging period.
Please join us this Sunday as we explore these questions and ideas.
Please have a glass or small container of water with you.
Following the service, we will have our weekly UU Dialogues Discussion and Breakout Rooms on Zoom. Here is the Zoom link for our service on August 8th at 10:30 AM:
https://zoom.us/j/98733916229
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A Note from the Music Director, Suellen Kipp
Building A New Way:
As your worship staff, Mary, Albie, and I have been preparing to return to in-person worship all summer, having many discussions on how Sunday services can build community, strengthen relationships, inspire and lift spirits, and how music can play a role in each of those goals.
Together, as a worship team we decided to begin Sunday morning worship upon our return to the Sanctuary by using an Opening Hymn for a month at a time. Our thinking in this decision is that using one song for a month at a time will help to build community, a sense of familiarity and comfort, and by the end of the month everyone will no longer be looking at the words and music, but will be singing from the heart and experiencing the music, and we feel that is how we can move, lift, and elevate our church to the next level of worship. The original plan was to return to worship in the Sanctuary by rejoicing with hymn #361-Enter, Rejoice, and Come In, but since COVID-19 has once again changed our plans we are going to hold on to that very special song and use that hymn once we are able to safely rejoin together in person and rejoice in being together in the Sanctuary space. So, even though we will continue meeting together online, we are going to continue Building A New Way by using an Opening Hymn for a month at a time. We are going to kick it off with Hymn #346 - Come, Sing A Song With Me, as Albie mentioned it felt like “our song” and it recognizes some of the disappointment we all are feeling at not returning to the Sanctuary, yet also embraces that we will bring joy and hope for each other in difficult times. Let It Be So.
~ Suellen
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GRACE Project is our Community Sharing Partner for August 2021!
The Guatemalan Rural Adult and Children’s Education (GRACE) Project designs and delivers family and reproductive health, music and art, and teacher training programs for indigenous, Latina, and farm worker women, youth, community leaders, and educators in Southwest Florida and in Central America.
More information can be found at thegraceproject.org .
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Dreamwork Group
“Our dreams regularly invite us to greater self-awareness and psycho-spiritual consciousness by remembering them more fully and inquiring more deeply into their multiple meanings. By increasing our capacity to remember and explore our dreams, we come progressively closer to (our) evolutionary potential.”- Jeremy Taylor
Come discover the wisdom of your dreams. Participate in the safety and support of a caring group.
To RSVP for a space, contact Debra Leigh, Certified Dream Work Facilitator. Phone/Text: (831) 818-1418 or email to dreamrookery7@gmail.com. Please include your contact information.
Meetings: Sundays in Rm. 2 at 11:50 am. Dates: Aug 15, Aug 29, Sept. 12, Sept. 26, and Oct. 10. Bring a snack.
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Social Issues Book Group
The Social Issues book group starting date has been postponed until August 11th. We will be reading the book: Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. The group meets on Wednesday from 1:30-3 p.m. For more information contact Helen Leddy (helen.leddy@gmail.com.)
The UUCFM and Caloosahatchee Mindfulness Book Group's next reading is Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer. The group meets on Wednesday from 10-11:30 a.m. For more information contact Helen Leddy (helen.leddy@gmail.com.)
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Monday Book Group
The UUCFM Monday Book Club will meet via Zoom on August 9 at 1 pm to discuss Ch. 22-28 of Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght.
We’ll complete the memoir the following week, so email Mary Studer with one suggestion for what you’d like us to read next. If you’re joining for the first time, please email Mary Studer to get the link to Zoom: mstuder929@gmail.com
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60th Anniversary Pave the Way Fundraiser
Our goal is 100 commemorative bricks at $100 per brick for $10,000 for our General Budget. Our Endowment Fund will pay production costs so each $100 goes right to the Budget.
59 bricks have been donated. 39 other bricks have been moved from the Eco-Preserve that were the 2011 50th Anniversary Fundraisers. Thus, 98 engraved bricks grace the pathways into our Sanctuary. They are a blessing to read.
Each 4" X 8" brick can be engraved with up to 3 lines of 13 characters/spaces on each line. Examples of donated bricks are UU quotes, memorials, names & sayings, such as:
She loved and was loved. Nancy Letts
Service is our Law. Go Forth!
Remembering (name, birth-death)
Albie & Mary, Lay Ministers, Thank You
To donate a brick: Contact suzanneziemer@gmail.com, 812-332-3450 or
helendixon9@gmail.com, 239-633-4989.
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Please send all newsletter articles by Wednesday at noon for publication in Thursday's newsletter. Send articles to newsletter@uucfm.org. | | | | |
